Christmas is a very busy time for Nonsuch Rotary along with other Rotary clubs in Sutton. This is the time for our major fund raising event for local charities.

From the 2nd to 17th December we will be very visible on the streets of North Cheam, Worcester Park and Stoneleigh - and at the local supermarkets - helping Father Christmas raise much needed funds for local charities.

Last Christmas, the generostity of local residents raised over £9,000 for worthy local causes. This year we are supporting:

• Sutton Alzheimer’s Society
• Sutton Opportunity Group
• Music in Hospitals
• Sutton & Croydon Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre
• The Princess Royal Trust Sutton Carers Centre

During these two weeks we will be walking over 22 miles around the local streets as well as visiting Asda, Waitrose and Sainsbury's supermarkets.

You will be able to spot Father Christmas in the following locations:

During the day:

Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd December - at Asda in Sutton

Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th December - at Waitrose in Worcester Park

Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th December - at Sainsbury’s in North Cheam

During evenings from 5.45 to 8.30 p.m.:

Monday 4th December - North Cheam/Worcester Park
Cheam Common Road, Ruskin Drive, Burnham Drive and London Road and
nearby roads

Tuesday 5th December - North Cheam/Stoneleigh
Sparrow Farm Road, Stoneleigh Avenue, Tudor Avenue and nearby roads

Thursday 7th December - North Cheam/Worcester Park
Langley Avenue, Dorchester Road, Clarkes Avenue and nearby roads

Friday 8th December - North Cheam
Marlow Drive, Gander Green Lane, Hamilton Avenue, Walton Avenue and nearby
roads

Monday 11th December - North Cheam
Wickham Avenue, Priory Road, Church Hill Road and nearby roads

Tuesday 12th December - North Cheam/Cheam
Lumley Road, Tilehurst Road, Chatsworth Road, Matlock Crescent and nearby
roads

Wednesday 13th December - Worcester Park
Green Lane, Longfellow Road, Browning Avenue, Washington Road and nearby
roads

Friday 15th December - Worcester Park
Vale Road, Ardrossan Gardens, Fairford Gardens and nearby roads

Nonsuch Rotary’s Swimathon has become an annual event that raises funds for Tadworth Court Children’s Trust as well as other local charities. Held on Saturday 4th November it was again hosted by Legal & General at their pool in Kingswood.

This year, in particular, we had teams from Collingwood School, Nonsuch High School for Girls, Rosebery High School for Girls, Sutton Shopmobility and from local Guide Groups and of course from our own Club. 20 teams with 75 swimmers completed a massive 2542 lengths of the 25 meter pool which equated to 63.55 kilometers or 39.5 miles.

The Club is very grateful to everyone who took part. Next year’s Swimathon will be held on 3rd November 2007.

One of our members, John Goodhead, spent a year in Zambia doing voluntary work in Chipata. Following on from his time Africa, the Club decided to support a project to send a consignment of books to Chipata in cooperation with the local Rotary Club.


Nonsuch contributed £1,000 and obtained Rotary District and Rotary Foundation grants to raise a total of £6,200 to cover the cost of a container of some 24,000 books.

Working with a USA Charity Books for Africa, the consignment is about to leave St. Paul, Minnesota and is scheduled to arrive in Chipata in March 2007.

Without a doubt the books will be of great value to the local schools, colleges and libraries in Chipata and are an excellent example of cross country cooperation between local Rotary Clubs, Rotary Foundation Rotary’s own charity) and third party charitable organisations.

Two of our Club members, John Goodhead and Mick Martin, are planning to be in Chipata when the books arrive in March 2007 and will be able to supervise their distribution to the community.

Chipata is a small and dusty crossroads in the Eastern Province of Zambia, and is a popular refueling station for overlanders on their way east to Malawi, west to South Luangwa National Park, or north to Lundazi. Formerly Fort Jameson, Chipata was the capital of North-Eastern Rhodesia until 1911, when Northern Rhodesia — later to become Zambia — was created. Now it's the capital of Zambia's Eastern Province and a fairly busy town with about 75,000 residents and more coming in daily.