News 2015
£1,000 donated to hospice
During his year as president of the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus Dipan Bhagalia encouraged members to support Leicestershire hospice charity LOROS. Throughout the year members not only raised funds by taking part in a sponsored walk, and by holding a chef demo at which they and their guests learned how to make curries. And they also marshalled two …
Club plans are praised
Members of the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus were praised after presenting their plans for the year from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. The praise came from assistant governor Les Aldrich, who said the club was clearly very lively with members committed to giving service. Among the proposals accepted by members were plans to support …
Collecting accolades
Many national and international charities rely on the support of Rotary Clubs and Rotarians. Often, Rotarians will hold events to raise money for charities and just as often, they will step in to help charities run their own events. Half a dozen members of the the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus stepped up to help Marie …
Cooking up a grand profit for LOROS
To celebrate the sixth anniversary of it being chartered, the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus held a birthday party with a difference. Chef Ram demonstrated how to create delicious meals, including Chilli Paneer and filled dosas. President Dipan Bhagalia and other guests took turns at trying to emulate Ram’s creations. The 60 guests at The Peepul Centre …
Disasters highlight need for Shelterboxes
Shelterboxes being carried to the remote areas of Nepal devastated by the earthquake No-one could have predicted when Alan Jones, a member of the Rotary Club of Hinckley Ambion, spoke to Leicester Novus Rotary Club a couple of weeks after Typhoon Pam struck in the Pacific that Nepal would have been devastated by an earthquake only …
Forty years of sending aid to Africa
A baker’s dozen of Leicester Novus Rotarians visited the Syston warehouse of the charity Intercare www.intercare.org.uk/ which has been sending drugs and other medical equipment valued at more than £12 million to Africa since 1974. Carol Austin, who recently retired after 22 years as an employee, but is soon to become a trustee of the charity, showed …
From asylum seeker to media mogul
Romail Gulzar, Managing Director of Pukaar News Ltd, told the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus the remarkable and moving story of how he fled his native Lahore as a persecuted Christian and became Managing Director of a media group which publishes a glossy quarterly magazine in Leicester and which provides video journalism to dozens of broadcasters in the …
Games and fun maintain Rotary fellowship
Table games including Connect 4, Scrabble, snobs, pairs, and Jenga kept eight members of Leicester Novus entertained. The evening provided the fun and fellowship which is the bedrock of Rotary and which enables its members to unite in the service of others. Can you guess who is pictured behind the Connect 4 board? It’s …
Gemma’s best bit of the year
“District Assembly,” says President-Elect Gemma Kiddy, eyes shining with enthusiasm, “is the best Rotary event of the year.” Gemma was speaking just before Geoff Blurton, incoming District Governor — lead Rotarian of the 87 clubs in the East Midlands — spoke at Loughborough University to introduce his team of officers to the District 1070 Assembly. Gemma was …
Generous school buys a Shelterbox
Shelterboxes — big green plastic boxes which contain a well-equipped tent for up to a dozen people whose lives have been turned upside down by disaster — have helped saved thousands of lives. At £590 they are not cheap, but they are absolutely vital in areas like earthquake-hit Nepal or Syria. The generous parents and pupils at the Falcons …
Helping LOROS twilight walk
Leicester Novus Rotarians step up for the LOROS twilight walk President Dipan Bhagalia chose LOROS, the Leicestershire hospice charity, as his charity of the year when he took office in July 2014. In the autumn of that year he led members of his club to visit the hospice, soon after members took part in the charity’s …
High-flying head welcomes Rotary friends
Rotary member Jasbir Mann welcomed members of the Novus club to her brand-new school. Falcons Primary School in Gipsy Lane, Leicester, opened just before Christmas, several months later than had been planned. The original board of governors and the original head left and Jasbir, an experienced headteacher who last summer oversaw the raising of more …
Noted success backstage
On the day that thousands of people lined Leicestershire’s roads to see the procession taking the body of King Richard III to his final resting place, hundreds of competitors, parents and teachers went to Leicester Grammar School for the day-long District 1070 finals of the Young Musician of the Year competition. The standard of …
Nothing square about De Montfort University project
Old friends met when the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus welcomed Mark Charlton, head of De Montfort University’s Square Mile Project. This unique project encourages the university students to do community work within a square mile of the city. Mark had, earlier that day, been inspecting a sports field which will benefit residents. He has also …
Pam meets Number One Rotarian at One Rotary Centre
During their recent holiday in America, Pam Spokes, Assistant Secretary of the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus, and her husband Rodney, past president of the Rotary Club of Leicester, went to the global headquarters of Rotary. At Rotary One Center (the American spelling) in Evanston, Chicago, they felt honoured (English spelling!) to meet RI President K …
Treasure hunt funds narrowboat trip
A walking treasure hunt around the pretty village of Tugby raised nearly £200 – almost enough to enable the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus provide a narrowboat trip for 26 elderly or disabled people. Twenty-five people spent a little over an hour solving 37 rhyming clues before enjoying a delicious meal at the Fox and …
Why I’m so passionate about Rotaract
Twenty-seven-year-old Luc Malherbe may have been a member of the Rotaract Club of Leicester only since November 2014, but the sociology graduate reckons joining is one of the best things he’s done. Speaking to the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus — whose president Gemma Kiddy played a major part in re-forming Leicester Rotaract — Luc explained that after …
Young writers rewarded
At the invitation of Head Teacher, Mrs Patricia Mason, Rotarians Diana Thurston and Pam Spokes attended an assembly at St Thomas More Academy on 18 June to present prizes and certificates to the winner and runners-up in this year’s competition. The winning entry was from Sofia Lotto, second prize was awarded to Rosie-Mae Connolly, and …
Ambion beat Novus at Skittles
The Leicester Novus Rotary Club’s hopes (?) of progressing further in the District Minor Sports competition came to an end at the Black Dog pub in Oadby when the Rotary Club of Hinckley Ambion beat them at skittles. As always in these matches, there was lots of excellent banter about the competitors’ prospects of going further… possibly …
From Curry Club to Canal Boat
The Rotary Club of Leicester Novus enjoyed a busy couple of days. It started with a most enjoyable social evening at The Tamarind Restaurant in The Peepul Centre where Diana Thurston had convened the latest meeting of our Curry Club. We welcomed a former member of the club, six other guests and one visiting Rotarian who …
Past President Dipan abseils for The Spark Arts for Children charity
Dipan Bhagalia, the Immediate Past President of the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus, was one of a couple of dozen brave souls who abseiled down Gateway House, De Montfort University, in aid of The Spark Arts for Children. Current Rotary president Gemma Kiddy has chosen Spark Arts as her favoured charity during this year and …
Gong Hey Fat Choy!
Two snakes, two dragons, two tigers, a rooster, a pig and — auspiciously — a sheep sat down to dinner at the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus on February 19. They were, of course, celebrating The Year of The Sheep, which began that day. They exchanged the Cantonese “Happy New Year” greeting above and the Mandarin equivalent …
Scattering far and near
Like many Rotary Clubs, the Novus club occasionally holds a Scatter Week when members are encouraged to visit other clubs to share the Rotary fellowship. When Novus held its Scatter Week in February 2014, Pam Spokes visited the Rotary Club of Leicester and Gemma Kiddy visited the Rotary Club of Leicester De Montfort. The week …
New year, new member
At its first meeting of 2015, the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus inducted a new member. Even though IT analyst Jason Chauhan will not be 24 until May, he has not significantly altered the average age of the club, whose name implies that it wants to remain new and youthful. In keeping with its aims, …
Novus team helps get the message across
President Dipan Bhagalia and President Elect Gemma Kiddy led a team of eager communicators keen to learn about social media. At the office of IT expert Dipan, and aided by Leicester Rotaract member Luke Malherbe, they taught eight Rotary club members how to use Facebook and Twitter to most effectively promote Rotary events. You can find …
Rotarians refuse to give up
Fitness instructor Jitesh Joshi led seven members of the Rotary Club of Leicester Novus through an hour-long aerobic fitness session at Soar Valley College for their second meeting of 2015. The high-stepping Rotarians were left ‘clammy’ and slightly out of breath, which is exactly what Jitesh had promised when he had spoken to them the …
Did You Know?
Forty years ago, Rotary launched its campaign to rid the world of polio.
Then, 350,000 people — many of them children — were being disabled and killed by the disease every year.
We started in 1979 with vaccinations for six million children in the Philippines.
Today, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic.
Rotary and other partners stuck at it, raising $1.2 BILLION and immunising more than 2.5 BILLION children.
We have eradicated two of the three strains of the disease.
Wouldn’t you like to be part of such a success story?
You can be, by e-mailing Novus Rotary
Rotary is dedicated to seven areas of focus: to build international relationships, improve lives, and create a better world to support our peace efforts and end polio forever.
Promoting peace
Rotary encourages conversations to foster understanding within and across cultures. We train adults and young leaders to prevent and mediate conflict and help refugees who have fled dangerous areas.
Fighting disease
We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. We improve and expand access to low-cost and free health care in developing areas.
Providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene
We support local solutions to bring clean water, sanitation, and hygiene to more people every day. We don’t just build wells and walk away. We share our expertise with community leaders and educators to make sure our projects succeed long-term.
Saving mothers and children
Nearly 6 million children under the age of five die each year because of malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation. We expand access to quality care, so mothers and their children can live and grow stronger.
Supporting education
More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.
Growing local economies
We carry out service projects that enhance economic and community development and create opportunities for decent and productive work for young and old. We also strengthen local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women, in impoverished communities.
Supporting the Environment
More than $18USD million in grant funding from the The Rotary Foundation, Rotary’s own charity, has been given to environmental-related projects over the past five years. Creating a distinct area of focus to support the environment will give Rotary members even more ways to bring about positive change in the world and increase our impact.
