The Rotary Club of Corringham Thameside

Corringham Thameside entertained the Rotary Club of Rayleigh Mill in the second round of the District darts competition held at The Springhouse Club on Tuesday 13th December.
Corringham Thameside were represented by Albert Borgman, Peter Matthews, Terry Finnegan and David Fenn with Brian Munroe as the non-playing captain. Albert was first up to the oche in the singles and lost a tight encounter by 2-1. He was followed by Peter Matthews who went down 2-0, but Terry Finnegan clawed one back with a 2-0 win. In the final singles match David Fenn lost 2-1 to Howard Pannell, leaving the home side needing to win all the remaining legs. They got off to a fine start with Albert and Peter beating their opponents 2-1 and Terry and David followed suit and levelled the scores. This left the tie being decided by a single 501 with four-a-side. Corringham were soon on the back foot trailing Rayleigh by over 200. Although Rayleigh were on their double, David managed to score 104 to give us a fighting chance. Rayleigh’s difficulty in securing their double, allowed Corringham to narrow the gap and Albert secured a very close victory by scoring the all important double four, whilst our opponents were still looking for that elusive double two.
A tight game played in the very best of spirits, with the Rayleigh team wishing us all the best in the next round.

Having endured the cold and wind at the Corringham Winter Fayre, where we sold our Corringham Calendar, the Club played host to our friends from the Rotary Club of Wickford. A most enjoyable evening of fellowship included the raffle of two Rotary Christmas Puddings to raise funds for the eradication of polio campaign. One being won by a Wickford member and the other by Corringham member.
After dinner, all those present were entertained by 13 year old Harry Carnaby – Basildon’s Young Volunteer of the year. Harry told those present about his work with Gateway 97.8 where he presents a programme, his work with making T.V. adverts and taking part in various T.V. programmes. He is currently producing his school pantomine. After this he offered up a short general knowledge quiz and followed by singing a couple of songs which included “White Christmas”. All the rotarians present found it difficult to grasp that this was a 13 year old local boy, who has certainly crammed an awful lot into his young life, including an enormous amount of fundraising and support for various charities. Here is a young man who is a credit to himself and those around him, and it is great to see that there are some really motivated young people in our midst who are willing to work for others.

Our annual Give-A-Can appeal at Morrison’s store in Corringham was held on Saturday 3rd December and the generousity of customers netted a magnificent 1727 cans of food which were passed on to the Salvation Army for distribution to the homeless and others in need.
The club would like to thank the customers of Morrison’s who so freely contributed in these difficult times. We would also like to thank the management and staff of Morrison’s, without whose help and co-operation the event could not have taken place. Our thanks too, to the Salvation Army who collected the cans of food and who will distribute them to those in need.

The Karis May Darling Foundation has benefitted from a Latin American Rock Tribute night organised jointly by the Rotary Club of Corringham Thameside and Bowers United Sports & Social Club.
The event was held at Bowers United Social Club in Crown Avenue in Pitsea on Friday 25th Novemeber where the audience were entertained by the Latin American Rock Tribute Band, supported by Mike Summers and the Jai Band and Luke Barr. The music captured the very best of the songs from Santana, The Gypsy Kings and Richie Valens.
We are most grateful for the imput of Mike Barnard, without his help we would not have been able to hold the event.
£430 pounds was raised and this will be used by the Karis May Darling Foundation in their work to support the young people in our area. Our thanks to everyone that supported this event.

During the District Governor’s annual visit to the club on Thursday 17th November 2011, Charlie Key was inducted into the club by President David Fenn. At 22 years of age, Charlie becomes the youngest ever member in the club’s 30 year old history.
Introduced to the club by his sponsor, Rotarian Peter Matthews who had known Charlie and his family for many years.
President David Fenn explained that the joining the club was just the first step in which he hoped would be a long journey, where each Rotarian makes new friends and takes an active part in the activities that we hope will make our community a better place in which to live.
District Governor Neil Muir presented Charlie with his Rotary badge and offered him his congratulations. At the end of the short ceremony of induction, Charlie was formally introduced to each of his new clubmates individually by his sponsor.
We all wish Charlie a long and happy association with the club.