Charity Partners club dinner celebrating over £12,000 raised!

The Rotary Club of Banstead has raised over £12,000 for local charities over the Christmas period thanks to the generosity of Banstead residents.

The Club held a dinner for charity partners at Cuddington Golf Club on Tuesday evening to mark February 23 World Peace and Understanding day. This takes place on February 23 every year and this day is actually a commemoration of the first meeting of Rotary and this year marks Rotary’s 119th Birthday!

President Jane Illingworth welcomed everyone to the dinner and provided the reasons for the event:

To enjoy a good meal and convivial company;

To provide the opportunity for charities to network and get to know each other;

To learn a little of what Banstead Rotary does, and,

To present the cheques and to give an award to one of our Charity Walk teams.

A great evening was enjoyed by all with Cuddington Golf Club serving a delicious two course dinner of Salmon En Croute with accompanying vegetables , and, a delicious chocolate gateau with vanilla ice cream. After dinner there was the chance to network over tea & coffee.

Rotarian Stuart Walker provided a presentation about Banstead Rotary and the Club’s charity work and volunteering opportunities.

David Annand , Crossroads Care Surrey, gave an insight into the development of corporate relationships, and, how his charity can develop help and guidance for  a business to support staff who are unpaid carers to their loved ones. In return the business provides philanthropic help such as staffing charity collections.

The Santa sleigh has been running for a great number of years and is a popular festive feature in the Banstead Community. Returning for the Christmas period this year and withcharity partner Ekves raised over £12,000 during the Christmas activities this year which included participation in the Banstead Village Christmas Lights switch on with the Club Santa  magically turning on the lights.

The club also organises supermarket collections and these took place at Waitrose Banstead and Asda in Burgh Heath.

Some of the charities to benefit include Home Start,  Dyscover, Age Concern Banstead, Macular Society, National Autistic Society Surrey, Good Food Company (Epsom and Ewell Foodbank),Epsom and Ewell Talking Newspaper,  Diamond Riding School, QEF, Princess Alice Hospice, Crossroads Care Surrey, Maggie’s Royal Marsden, Transform Housing and Support.

Citizen’s Advice Reigate & Banstead also attended to receive a trophy as the most successful Charity Walk fundraisers.

After Jane had presented the cheques we took photos and, then she wished everyone a good journey home!

Thanks are especially due to the Rotarians who worked hard to deliver the projects, David who Chairs the Christmas Collections, Suzanne who Chairs the Charity Walk and Roger who manages everything as Treasurer.

The photos below show each charity representative receiving their cheque.