A new president for Frome Selwood Rotary Club

At last month’s handover meeting Dick Collins took over the presidency of the Rotary Club of Frome Selwood for the coming year from Ken Fricker.

Dick has had an interesting 34 year career in the RAF. More recently his attention has been divided between Air Cadets, Bath Rugby, bell ringing, singing in Corsley Festival Choir and, of course, as a valued member of Selwood Rotary in many capacities for 18 years. He has been married to Rosemary for 56 years and is now the Pater Familias of four generations of Collinses.

Dick paid tribute to his predecessor and said, “It is a great honour to be chosen as President and I am looking forward to a busy year with good fellowship, interesting speakers and challenging projects. The club will continue to support local, national and international organisations and charities.”

A variety of fundraising events are already at an advanced planning stage. Some are annual, such as the popular Wine Tasting in November, and the Gastro Quiz and Opus III concert in the Spring. Look out also for new ones (a New Year’s Eve Dance, a World Cuisine Evening) and more to come. Others are organised in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Frome and in the District: Kids Out to Longleat for instance.

Club members are often seen around town in support of local events like the Frome Show, Carnival, Half Marathon and the Children Festival, or collecting for disasters both local (flooding) or in the wider world.

Rotary’s support of the young in Frome is a significant objective and include Young Frome Citizen of the Year, Rotary Young Leadership Award (to develop teamwork, leadership and lateral thinking) and the semi-final heats of the ever amazing Youth Speaks competition.

For those wanting to know more about the Rotary Club of Frome Selwood, its website is www.fromeselwoodrotary.org.uk