2022 News
15th December –
Our Club’s Community Christmas Lunch took place this afternoon. December 2019 was the last time it took place and it was great to see this event return to theTudor Hotel, Airdrie.
Over 100 Residents and Staff from numerous organisations and homes in the Monklands were fed and entertained.
Janice Toner returned with her keyboard to bring much needed Christmas cheer.
Santa made an appearance with two of his Elves.
Photo Link
5th December –
Time was taken at this evening’s business meeting to welcome Lorraine Easton as a Corporate Member. Lorraine is a volunteer with Diamonds in the Community. Picture here with President Tom.
28th November –
The Right Hon Lord Mulholland
(Frank Mulholland)
Lord Mulholland was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Courts in May 2016.
He was appointed as the Solicitor General for Scotland in 2007 and the Lord Advocate in 2011.
He has dealt with the most challenging and high profile cases as a prosecutor and has appeared in the appellate courts, including a full bench of the Appeal Court and in the UK Supreme Court.
Coming from Coatbridge himself, he spoke to the club about some of the cold cases he has been involved in. An exceptional evening from an exceptional public speaker.
photo Lady Mulholland, Lord Mulholland and President Tom
21st November –
Richard Grey represented the Citywise Charity and gave an excellent talk describing the work of the Charity in Glasgow and Manchester.
Citywise is a mentoring charity which works with schools and families to help young people unlock their potential, flourish in all areas of their lives, and contribute positively to their communities.
Richard (left) is pictured with President Tom and PP Colin
November 13th –
On behalf of our club, Past President Gavin Gordon laid a wreath at the Coatbridge War Memorial.
November 8th – Young Musician Competition
After three years we’re back !
Coatbridge High School hosted our local Young Musician of the year competition. Organised by Rotary Past President Janet McGill, seventeen young people from Coatbridge High and St Ambrose High entertained an impressed audience as they competed at the event.
There were competitors in five sections –
Piano, Solo Voice, Brass, Strings and Woodwind.
Lewis Hendry was the winner of the local contest three years ago and Lewis, who is now studying at the the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, entertained the audience while the juges deliberated their verdict.
Link to more photos
The judges were extremely impressed by the standard of the competitiors and applauded them all for their performance.
All the young musicians received a certificates for taking part and trophies were awarded to the section winners.
The certificates and trophies were awarded by Rotary Past President Martin Cairney.
Section winners were Piano- Kenan Elsever; Solo Voice- Calum McGonigle; Brass- Erin Higgins; Strings- Joe Howard; Woodwind- Marc Smith.
The overall winner receives the John Gray Memorial Trophy and this year’s overall winner was Kenan Elsever.
The evening ended with the vote of thanks from Past President Gavin Gordon.
31st Oct –
An awareness raising meeting with our
friends from Diamonds in the Community
We are again participating collecting warm clothing for Wrap Up Lanarkshire from churches across the Monklands for distribution via Diamonds in the Community in Airdrie.
photo: Secretary Bill, ‘Diamonds’, President Tom.
October 24th-
We welcomed Airdrie Central Councillors Lesley Jarvie & Janice Toner to our meeting to impart knowledge of many of our Club’s projects.
They were enrolled as associate members and we hope to work with them in the future.
L-R Secretary Bill, Janice, President Tom, Lesley
October 17th-
Ramsay Vallance gave an interesting presentation of his 7 day sail around Scotland as a crew member from Iverkip to Montrose.
He called it “A West Highland Odyssey” describing the route and what happened with stunning views.
Ramsay is pictured with Rotarian Carol and President Tom
October 3rd –
John Brown from the Rotary Club of Kilsyth visited the club to give a presentation about Rotary Christmas Remembrance trees with donations to local charities.
This project captures the essence of the Christmas Spirit and also provides a heartfelt way of remembering loved ones amid all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.
President Tom with John Brown
September 28th –
Bill McMullen pays a visit to Caldervale High School and
meets the School Lend with Care Ambassadors
September 25th –
The Coatbridge, Airdrie & Monklands Rotary Expo took place in the Coatbridge Indoor Bowling Club.
Rotary along with other Local community groups were on display at this event.
Many thanks to all who came along.
16th Sept –
PP Martin Cairney on behalf of the Club
presented a Cheque for £200 to Douglas of
Diamonds in the Community to help with
the installation of new racking.
29th Aug –
Les Obrie spoke to the club about
the history and the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. ( CWGC.org )
He gave a fascinating account of
its origins and the work going on
all over the world.
photo -Secretary Bill, Les, President Tom
22nd Aug –
Coatbridge, Airdrie & Monklands Rotary Club President, Tom Harrigan and Past President George Lindsay,
met with Members of the Coatbridge Islamic Society
at the Coatbridge Mosque.
22nd Aug –
Becky Hall joined us to inform us about the work of Phoenix Futures in North Lanarkshire.
She was accompanied by Colleagues Karen and Tommy to describe the range of services they provide to help support families who are affected by drugs and/or alcohol use
Photo: Bill, Becky, Tommy, Karen, Kirsty, Tom.
8th Aug – A film was shown by Rotarian John Beever:
Mental illness occurs at any age and is something for many, that the stigma surrounding it and the way it’s portrayed in the media as negative, is not spoken about. The lack of understanding by most that come across it makes them embarrassed when being told they have an illness. The damage for some is more than the illness itself.
Statistics show that one in four can develop a mental illness. The suffering associated with being mentally unwell is often experienced in silence but if spoken about would allow a faster recovery.
The journey that most take after being diagnosed with a mental illness is to find the “Changes Within” coping with being told you have an illness and how harmful the effect it will have on the person for the rest of their life.
Everybody’s journey is different and this short film gives a little insight into one man’s life.
James Cairns was 23 when he was diagnosed mentally unwell.
29th July –
At our meeting before the holidays President Tom Harrigan highlighted this charity and we agreed to forward the Club’s £300 donation to the Education Welfare Mission School in India. We have applied for a further District Grant of £300.
Some images showing the goods purchased and a couple showing the children proudly wearing their new uniforms, school bags and lunch boxes. Also, he has secured a 6 month salary for a teacher.
All in all, I would have to say that, Mr. Inder Pal Singh, the co-founder of the School has done a tremendous spendthrift job.
24th July –
Club members and friends walked along the Monklands Canal in aid of raising money for Aquabox.
July 4th –
Martin becomes past President as he transfers the Chain of Office to our President for 2022-2023 Tom Harrigan.
June 30th –
Margaret Dick retires from The Monklands Talking Newspaper.
Margaret’s voice has been familiar to the blind and partially sighted listeners for many years – She refused to tell exactly how many. A stalwart volunteer reading articles from the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser on to Tapes and nowadays on to USB sticks for our listeners.
Seen here having been presented with flowers and chocolates from MTN Secretary and Rotarian John McGill.
June 29th –
We had a friends & family event at Coatbridge Indoor Bowling Centre. A great enjoyable night was had by all.
28th June –
Many of our members took a guided tour of the new extended premises of the Moira Anderson Foundation. The foundation based in Airdrie is dedicated to supporting children and adults affected by childhood sexual abuse. We have supported them for many years.
photo: MAF
L to R: Chair, Maggie Docherty, Founder: Sandra Brown, Director; Gillian Urquhart.
27th June –
VP Tom Harrigan, Charity Convener, organised an evening for 5 more (see 21st March) selected local community charities to receive £200 grants.
Photo :
Left – Corporate member Kirsty
Nicola Smith representing Chapelside Primary School Parents Council
Sasha Bennet representing Monklands Womens Aid
Kerry Anne Clarke representing North Lanarkshire Recovery Community
John Crossan representing Make and Create Arts
behind John PP Gavin and P Martin
Anne McGonnel representing Mingling and Sharing Hope (MASH)
behind Anne a welcome visitor Dougie from Diamonds in the Community.
23rd June –
Visit to Kilsyth Rotary Club
13th June –
Sheila McNicol visited our club last November to receive a cheque for Breast Cancer Now and tell her own breast Cancer story.
Sheila returned to give an excellent in depth presentation describing breast cancer in both men and women highlighting the many signs and the importance of self-checking.
6th June –
A successful Club Assembly was held with President elect, Tom’s vision for the coming year of the club. The meeting was attended by the incoming Assisstant District governor elect, Callan Dick.
At the meeting President martin announced that Gavin Gordon was his choice of Rotarian of the Year for all his hard work over the year. photo opposite:
18th May –
At Airdrie station platform 3 we have replaced the old plants with a range of
summer bedding plants and they’re looking very good.
16th May –
Our 85th Charter Presentation Dinner guests were DG Ken Robertson & wife Elizabeth, AG Ken Drummond and incoming AG Callan Dick, DG elect Brenda Waugh and her Mum.
DC Ken presented President Martin with the Charter. He went on to present John Beever and John Jarvie their Paul Harris fellowships for their years of exceptional work for the club. In addition, he presented Bill McMullen, who had already achieved a Paul Harris award, with the sapphire award (equivalent to a double Paul Harris award) for exceptional and continued Rotary work.
12th May –
Rotary Golf competition / Drumpellier Golf Club Fundraiser was organised by PP Gavin Gordon and luckily the weather remained favourable for the 14 teams of 4 taking part in our Golf Am-Am competition.
Prizes presented with Carol Cairney and President Martin. Funds raised of approximately £2800 are destined for local charities.
9th May –
PDG Alasdair Seale gave a presentation explaining
Sustaining Member contributions to Rotary Foundation.
Formerly called a Paul Harris Sustaining Member is a person who contributes $100 or more per year to the Foundation’s Annual Programs Fund. Without sustained support of the Annual Programs Fund, the programs of The Rotary Foundation cannot happen. With contributions of $100 from every member every year, Rotary could nearly double its efforts to help needy people the world over, supporting the continued growth of programs.
Alasdair is pictured with President Martin
11th April –
Douglas Allsop, Fundraising and Partnership Manager of
” Diamonds in the Community “
described the work and the ethos of the Charity.
Our Rotary Club recently teamed up with them on the wrap up Lanarkshire collection.
We were totally unaware of the amount and scope of projects that they are involved in.
Treasurer Stephen Eaton , Chairperson Julie.McPhee Rotary P Martin, F & P Manager Douglas Allsop.
28th Mar –
Friends of Monkland Canal Chairman, Alan McCormack, spoke to the club this evening to describe the group’s work over the past two years.
Alan formed the group starting with cleaning up the litter with volunteers. He then formed the committee with like minded individuals who cared for the canal and it’s surroundings. Alan showed his passion for the clean up and his team have worked tirelessly to get the local council and Scottish Canals to help them. Within a few months the Canal was looking good, then the weeds and paths were tidied up.
Recently money was found to tar the 2km towpath and it is now accessible to wheelchairs. All power to Alan and his group as they continue to improve what is now a spectacular community facility.
Club back in Top Gear
President Martin provided this years’ report to our District last week which showed that the Rotary Club of Coatbridge, Airdrie & Monklands is back in high gear after the troubles of Covid-19 in the last two years.
Community and Vocational activities
In addition to the above small grants project where we gave £200 to each of five local community groups we intend to repeat this with at least another five local groups. Donations were also made as follows: £250 to Friends of Westend Park, £200 to Breast Cancer Care, £100 to Coatbridge High School Christmas Concert.
The need for help is only becoming more necessary in these troubled times and we are fundraising, distributing funds as well as forging partnerships and links with many small local community charities
We took a big part in the local Christmas Toy Appeal, collecting donated toys from local supermarkets and distributing them amongst local primary schools. It’s estimated that we handled 6,000+ toys and delivered approx 5,000 to local schools and charities. The balance will be held and used for local district nurses to hand out as birthday presents as they do their rounds.
We continue with the “Adopt a Station” project at Platform 3 Airdrie Railway Station.
Unfortunately, we had to cancel our Annual Charity Christmas Lunch due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid. We have decided to hold this back until Christmas 2022.
The Monklands Talking Newspaper is back to recording and distributing the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser every week from its’ new base in the Coatbridge Indoor Bowling Club premises thanks to the Bowling Club Committee.
International projects report:
The club continues with its own Lendwithcare project which has been running since 2014. We have invested another £300 into our account taking our total investment to £4,300. We have also invested a further £185 into our School Ambassadors To Lendwithcare project.
So far, we have £1,000 to invest into the Rotary Ukraine appeal with, no doubt, more to come.
We have also invested £300 into two Aquaboxes.
Rotary Foundation and End Polio Funds
£500 has been given to the End Polio Now fund and another £500 to Foundation with hopefully more to come nearer the end of the current Rotary Year.
Youth Services Report
As previously mentioned, The Schools Ambassadors to LWC project continues.
Further interaction with schools has, like many other things, not been possible due to the continuation of the Covid pandemic.
Fund raising events planned for this year
AM/AM golf event is planned for 12th May. If this is as successful as the last one in September, it should hopefully raise circa £3,000.
The annual fundraising Burns supper, which was held back to allow people to become more comfortable gathering with others, will hopefully take place within the next 2/3 months.
21st March – Rotarian Tom Harrigan, Charity Convener, organised an evening for 5 selected local community charities to receive £200 grants.
Jim Rankine represented Parkinson’s Self Help Group
Marie Campbell represented Nurture Scotland
Jean Lavelle represented Enable Airdrie
Nicola Smith represented Airdrie Community School Uniform Bank
Derek Russell represented Hope for Autism
Derek, Jean, Nicola, Martin, Marie, Jim, Tom
14th March – Past President Janet spoke to the club about her trip to visit husband John’s cousin in Tasmania as part of a 3 week holiday down under. Tasmania has an amazing history and the landscape has many similarities to Scotland. The Powerpoint presentation consisted of photos from the trip.
7th March – Rotarian Carol took the members down memory lane as she highlighted her memories as a teacher at St Edward’s Primary, in Airdrie. She started in St Edward’s in 1970 and was a member of staff for 40 years. She spoke of the politics of the staffroom and her enjoyment and good relationships with some of the headteachers of the school during her time there. Carol gave examples of many funny times during her time in the school. (Who can forget the doughnuts!!!) Carol loved teaching at all stages of the school and especially loved the first thirty years but did explain that the final ten years were a struggle as things changed within education.
28th Feb – Global Scholars Natalie Hodde and Cassidy Parshall from Texas visited our club. Both are studying at Edinburgh University.
Natalie is working towards a MSc in Environment and Development and one of Natalie’s key interests is preserving water resources in order to provide safe water access to all. Cassidy is studying policy to bring surgical access to all global and local communities. Until recently, surgery was not included in the discussion about how to improve healthcare quality, access, and equity worldwide.
left to right : Past President Colin Ooi , Natalie, Cassidy, President Martin Cairney
What are Global Scholarships?
Global grant scholarships, funded by The Rotary Foundation, fund international post graduate coursework or research for one to four academic years.
A key feature of global grants is the partnership between the district or club in the study location (host sponsor) and the district or club in the scholar’s home country (international sponsor). Global grant scholars must be planning to pursue a career in an area of focus, and their graduate-level educational goals should support this career interest. Pursuing a career in an area of focus means the scholar has a long-term commitment to measurable, sustainable change.
A candidate’s previous work or volunteer experience, academic programme and career plans must be strongly aligned with one of Rotary’s six areas of focus.
Eligible candidates should be demonstrating the following traits:
• Excellent leadership skills and potential
• A proven record of success in his or her academic field or vocation
• A commitment to community service
• Well-defined and realistic goals
• Concrete ideas for advancing within his or her chosen field
• Sincerity about maintaining a lifelong relationship with Rotary after the scholarship period.
7th Feb –
Lorna and Sharon from the local “Bear Necessities” Charity spoke to the club about the Airdrie based Charity.
Their charitable organisation gift essential baby and children items to families within the local community who may be in crisis. They also deliver classes and support groups for parents, babies and toddlers.
A selection of extra toys from the Christmas toy appeal organised by Norbert were donated to the charity.
31st Jan – Natalie and Norbert outlined their plans for a number of this years events including events
to aid membership. Well thought out and organised including obtaining volunteers for the events.
The meeting also agreed to fund donations to Lend with care and Aquabox.
24th Jan –
The Club Burns Supper was well attended and everybody enjoyed the Selkirk Grace from Archie and a translation from Willie. Willie also treated the audience to another fine rendition of Tam o Shanter.
17th Jan –
Club Treasurer John Jarvie provided an enjoyable talk about Curling’s rules and history.
the first formal record of the existence of the sport of curling being at Paisley Abbey with a certain John McQuhin recording a challenge about throwing stones across the ice between a monk at the Abbey and a relative of the abbot in February 1541.
