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HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thornbury Club Bulletin December 2012Presidents Report

The big Club decision about our new venue has been reached. I know that for a number of you The Swan isnot felt to be ideal, but to be honest all the potential venues have had positive and negative aspects. I hopethat everyone will now go with the choice that The Club has made and support our next few meetings loyallybut continue to give feedback to Council.

Our Fund-Raising activities in December have been hugely successful with nearly £1500 being raised by theMulled Wine and Wyevale collections. Thanks particularly to Chris and Derek for this - but also thanks toeveryone who contributed with their help at both events.(Let's now look at ways that we can utilise thesemonies for the benefit of both local and further afield causes!).

The Christmas Evening at The Bristol Golf Club was a great social occasion, with the wonderful bonus ofthe performance by Your Call. I got to the stage of becoming very concerned that several of our numbermight have suffered various accidents related to overuse of their laughter muscles!!

I have written to Your Call and told them how much we enjoyed their show, and have had a lovely replysaying how much THEY enjoyed the evening, and that we were one of the best audiences that they have everhad. I hope that we can continue to support their work in the future. Many thanks too, on your behalf, toMike Josey for all his work in ensuring that the evening was such a success.

The Inner Wheel Carol Service was just the right mix of the Sacred and the Secular, and , apart from beingintroduced by the Vicar (just after "Good King Wenceslas") as the "Original Old Sod", I really enjoyed TheReading that Joan Josey had asked me to present!

As I sit here writing this on New Year's Eve, having ,of course, had virtually nothing to eat or drink over theFestive Period, and not contemplating having much tonight either, may I again wish you A Very Happy andHealthy New Year. I look forward to seeing you at The Swan for our first Dinner Meeting of 2013 onWednesday the 9th. of January.

Phil

Your Call getting the audience participating!President Phil and Wendy in party mode

Thornbury Lights Switch -On and Mulled Wine Stall - 20 November 2012

Once again the mulled wine and mince pies attracted attention to the Rotary Stall and together with the FoodFayre raised a total of donations to a sum of £325 for Rotary charities as the start of the Festive Season. Anumber of visitors to the Food Fayre also expressed interest in the possibility of joining a potential SatelliteClub. Thanks to Chris Marsh and his Team for organising the events. A number of photographs from theevent are reproduced below.

Bob, Gordon and Phil Howard on ”Look-out”

Richard, Howard and Derek

Bob,Phil and Len Mike seeks a “ bargain”

Southern Cotswolds Rotary Young Musicians Competition 2013The Heat for Woodwind and Brass is on Sunday 13th January at Katherine Lady Berkeley School,Kingswood, Wotton-Under-Edge at 2 p.m.The Heat for Piano and Strings is on Sunday 27th January at Westonbirt School also at 2 p.m.Those who have supported these events in the past will know that we are in for an excellent afternoon. Therewill be a retiring collection towards expenses.

Michael Kirby

Clive

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Club Christmas Party - Bristol Golf Club - 12 December 2012

The Club held its annual Christmas Party at Bristol Golf Club. The event was very well supported with some70 Rotarians, partners and guests attending. The evening started with President Phil welcoming everybodyfollowed by an excellent meal served efficiently and with a choice of menu which included the traditionalChristmas fayre. Following the meal we enjoyed the traditional game of ‘2-up’ and moved swiftly on to themain event - a performance of Christmas stories by the Your Call Theatre Group-a group of local youngpeople who entertained us magnificently with a variety of very seasonal music and singing , a mini- pantocomplete with “dame” who developed a worrying attraction to Chris Fairhead, rounded off with Christmassongs by all. The youngsters included a number of the Northavon Youth Theatre members who haveentertained us in the past. A wonderful evening and very well organised by Mike Josey. A selection of photosfrom the night is reproduced below courtesy of Maurice Stagg..Clive

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Annual Christmas Rotary Charity Collection at Wyevale Garden Centre ,Thornbury.

Wyevale at Thornbury again this year allowed us to collect for Rotary Charities at their Thornbury GardenCentre over 5 weekend days commencing on 9 December and finishing on 23 December with each daycollections staffed by two Rotarians undertaking each of the three daily 2 hour shifts. Derek Baker providedthe organisation and the opportunity was taken to display the work of the Club and Rotary at the collectionarea. The customers were generous and appreciative and a total of £1082 was raised by these collections. Ourthanks to all who contributed and to the Wyevale management . A couple of of photographs of collectors arereproduced below.

Chris,John and President PhilRichard and Adrian

Clive

Skittles Team update (see November edition)

I thought you might all like to know that we won our final league match against Portishead by 18 pins (221 to203 ) thus 4 wins out of 4.!! Portishead were the best team we have played against so far this season but theywere still no match for the in-form Thornbury Squad. It was a very enjoyable evening despite hassle from anirate vicar!!!

We now have to wait for results elsewhere to see if we go through to the quarter finals. Well played to all in the squad

Bob Slade

"Good Luck Mr. Gorsky" after astronaut Neil Armstrong( Died 2012)

On July 20, 1969, as Commander of theApollo 11 lunar module, Neil Armstrongwas the first person to set foot on the moon.

His first words after steppingon the moon, "that's one small step for man,one giant leap for mankind," weretelevised to earth and  heard by millions.*

But just before he re-entered the lander, he made theenigmatic  remark -"Good luck, Mr. Gorsky."many people at Nasa thought it was a casual remarkconcerning some rival Soviet cosmonaut.  however, upon checking,there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs

Over the years, many peoplequestioned Armstrong as to what the ’Good luck,Mr. Gorsky'statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled. (contd p5)

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On July 5, 1995, in Tampa Bay, Florida, while answeringquestions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26-year-oldquestion about Mr Gorsky to Armstrong.

This time he finally responded because Mr. Gorsky had died, so NeilArmstrong felt he could now answer the question.

HERE IS THE ANSWER TO "WHO WAS MR GORSKY":In 1938, when he was a kid in a small mid-western town , he wasplaying baseball with a friend in the backyard.  his friend hit the ball,which landed in his neighbour's yard by their bedroom window.

His neighbours were Mr. & Mrs.Gorsky.  as he leaneddown to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorskyshouting at Mr. Gorsky,

"Sex! you want sex?! You'll get sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!" IT broke the place upNEIL ARMSTRONG'S FAMILY CONFIRMED THIS IS A TRUE STORY. NEIL ARMSTRONGDIED ON 25 AUGUST 2012

Maurice Stagg

The Spanish Computer Teacher!

A Spanish Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as eithermasculine or feminine.

'House' for instance, is feminine:  'la Casa.''Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?'

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them todecide for themselves whether computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked togive four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora'),because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessoriesfor it.

The women's group, however,  concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador'), because:1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten abetter model.The women won.

David Thomas

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IMMEDIATE PROGRAMME

Date Function Speaker Friend Visitors Friend

VENUES

2 NO MEETING -Bank Holiday

9 D 7:30pm Lady Elizabeth White- National Trust The Swan

M Kirby A Thompson

13 14:00 Heat for South Cotswold Rotary Young Musicians 2013 Katherine Lady Berkeley School, Wotton

15 Council Meeting

16 EE 6:30pm Business Meeting The Swan M Turner

23 D 7:30pm Dr Allen Moller Life with the British CouncilThe Swan

M Josey R Underwood

27 14:00 Heat for South Cotswold Rotary Young Musicians 2013 Westonbirt School

30 D 7:30pm Guest Evening Mrs Romy Gill Asian FoodEvent Olveston Village Hall

D Holliday D Baker

6 EE 6:30pm Announcements and Committees The Swan G Brown

13 D 7:30pm Dinner Meeting The Swan R Hiscock R Carney

20 EE 6;30pm Business Meeting The Swan R Cole-Morgan

27 D 7:30pm Dinner Meeting The Swan L Hales R Craddy

1 District Conference Commences Torquay

6 EE 6:30pm Business Meeting The Swan N Dawes

8 Swimarathon Commences

13 D 7:30pm Dinner Meeting The Swan D Hilton A Dennis

20 EE 6:30pm SCATTER WEEK -Allan Taylor-Fellowship

27 D 7:30pm Dinner Meeting The Swan T Grey M Dunkley

PLEASE CHECK WEBSITE FOR ANYCHANGES TO PROGRAMME/VENUE

FEBUARY 2013

MARCH 2013

JANUARY 2013

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