Background and Plans for This Year’s Concert


The Rotary Club of Sutton Nonsuch is the newest Rotary Club in the Sutton area (but not that new – we were formed in 1986!). As our name suggests our origins are around the Nonsuch Park area which borders Worcester Park, Cheam, Stoneleigh and Ewell.

A few years ago when we were reviewing our activities one of our members, David Hagger, suggested that as our Club name was directly associated with Nonsuch we should be building relationships with and assisting other organisations associated with Nonsuch. That brought us into contact with The Friends of Nonsuch.

The Friends of Nonsuch is a charity formed in 1991 to fight for the preservation of the Nonsuch Park Estate as an open space accessible to all. Their original very successful campaign highlighted the need for conservation work on the Grade II Listed Georgian Mansion House and since then groups of volunteers have been restoring the Mansion. The Friends also have groups researching the history of the site and are very much concerned with the conservation of the parklands and gardens of Nonsuch Park. The Service Wing Museum was opened to the public in 1993 which details the history of the site and also shows how a working service wing would have looked in the nineteenth century. To find out more about visiting the Mansion visit their website.

To finance their restoration work The Friends hold a number of fund raising activities, one of which was a Jazz Concert in the gardens of the Mansion held on a summer’s evening. Nonsuch Rotary approached The Friends with an offer to help organise and grow this event and a partnership was agreed. We would take over the planning and management of the event in return for a share in the profits to support Rotary charities. We first helped in 2007 when the event was upgraded to a Big Band Night featuring The Dave Marrion Big Band. Last year (2008) we took over the complete management of the event and a special committee was set up that included both Club members and members of The Friends of Nonsuch to oversee the organisation.

Despite a wet evening last year there was a very strong turnout and patrons enjoyed a great evening of Big Band Music, again from The Dave Marion Big Band. The early rain soon dried up and the evening finished with many of the audience dancing to the music of Glen Miller and other famous bands from the past.

The event raised much needed funds for The Friends of Nonsuch’s restoration work and also supported Rotary’s nominated charity The Macmillan Butterfly Centre at Epsom Hospital.

Last year we invited sponsorship from local firms to support the event. Dean Kirby’s Creative Flooring was our lead sponsor and others included The IT Partnership , National Counties Building Society, Astral Conservatories, Mantle & Partners Financial Planning & Tax Advisors, Spur Garage Wimbledon, Bond Tours, Banstead Road Garage and Village Ceramics.
Sponsorship opportunities are available again this year although Dean Kirby has already agreed to be our Principal Sponsor. Further information is available on our sponsorship form or by contacting Tony Ensom (Tel: 01737 833505 Email: a.ensom@btconnect.com).


This year, 2009 a much bigger and better event is being developed. An improved stage together with a professional sound system is planned together with a change of band. This year the Jay Craig Orchestra will be performing. Led by Jay Craig, BBC Big Band’s baritone sax man, the band was formed in 2004. Its players come together from some of the best bands in the country including the BBC Big Band and the Syd Lawrence and John Wilson Orchestras.

Tickets will shortly be on sale at £14 each and will be available from selected outlets within the Nonsuch Park area or from the Big Band Box Office. For further information about buying tickets please contact John Kemp at the Box Office (Tel: 0208 786 3441 Email johnkemp1@gmail.com).

Whilst most of Nonsuch Rotary’s activities are focused on the local community, Rotary is an international organisation and all clubs also support international activities.

Rotary’s largest initiative is the eradication of polio and over the last twenty years tremendous advances have been made.

In continuing this effort the Gates Foundation announced on 21st January 2009 that it is awarding a $255 million challenge grant to Rotary, which Rotary will match with $100 million raised by its members over the next three years. At the same time, the United Kingdom government is giving an additional $150 million (£100 million) and Germany is giving an additional $130 million (€ 100 million), both to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

Launched in 1988, the GPEI - spearheaded by Rotary, the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF - has reduced the number of polio cases by 99 percent over the past two decades, from more than 350,000 cases in 1988 to an estimated 1,600 in 2008.

The GPEI partners will use the new polio eradication funds to support a range of activities, including:

• National Immunisation Days, when countries aim to immunise every child under five years old with oral polio vaccine
• Supplemental immunisation activities focused on providing extra vaccinations to children in high-risk areas
• Research into new vaccines and ways to ensure they are available to vulnerable children
• Surveillance activities to detect cases of polio so that progress can be measured and outbreaks contained
  

Polio has been completely eliminated in the Americas, the Western Pacific and Europe, but the wild polio virus persists in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan, and imported cases from these countries threaten other developing nations. It is in these four countries that the most serious challenges exist, including vaccine effectiveness (India), low vaccination coverage rates (Nigeria), and access problems due to conflict (Afghanistan and Pakistan). Much depends on the countries themselves. Recent progress in key areas has shown that these challenges can be overcome with sufficient national and sub-national commitment.

Further information can be found here

The Sutton heat of Rotary’s national annual contest took place at Carshalton College on Saturday 17th January. Organised by Rotarian Chris Forkan, Nonsuch Rotary’s Youth Activities Officer, contestants competed from Cheam High School, Nonsuch High School for Girls and Carshalton College.

Rotary Young Chef is a national competition open to budding young chefs aged 17 or under. They have to cook a healthy three-course meal for two people in two hours with a budget of just £14.

The contest is sponsored by Filippo Berio, the UK's favourite Olive Oil, in conjunction with Rotary and Fifteen London - the restaurant founded by Jamie Oliver.

Now in its ninth year, the Rotary Young Chef Competition was created to give young people across the UK and Ireland the chance to display their creative talents with food, while discovering the importance of healthy eating.

The Rotary Young Chef wins a trip for two to Tuscany to visit Filippo Berio's amazing olive groves and sample the delights of Italian cuisine, as well as being treated to a one-day cookery session in the kitchen of Fifteen London restaurant.

Adam Arfaoui, aged 13 from Cheam High School, won the Sutton round and now goes forward to the District and hopefully the National final.

Contest judge, Matt Burns , Head Chef at The Dom, praised Adam’s performance and commented "The overall standard was very high and the cooking certainly good enough to be served to customers in a restaurant. We were particularly impressed by the professionalism of the students in the kitchen and the serious way they got on with their tasks".


The Mayor of Sutton, Councillor Dr Brendan Hudson, presented Adam with the winner's plaque after adding his own congratulations to him and the other competitors.

The menu chosen by Adam was:

The District final will be held at Merton College on Saturday 21st February and the National Final at North Herts College, Arts Centre, Hitchin, on Saturday 2nd May.

Following Nonsuch Rotary’s latest Christmas collection five charities received cheques from the Club at a special dinner meeting on 7th January.

The five charities supported were Family Focus, Friends of the Elderly, Linden Bridge School, MERU and Help for Heros. The first four charities were represented at the event and received their cheque from Patsy Payne, Editor of the Sutton and Epsom editions of The Post, our local newspaper.

Introducing the guests, Tony Ensom said, 'These occasions, when money so generously given at Christmas is distributed to a number of charitable organisations set up to help others, are always highlights of Nonsuch Rotary Club's year.'

Each charity gave a brief presentation about their work and what the Club’s donation would be used for.



The photograph shows, from left to right, Paul Jensen, Family Focus; Ronwen Smith, Linden Bridge School; Mark Wilson, Friends of the Elderly; Susan Brompton, MERU; and Marisse Gliddon, Friends of the Elderly.

The 2009 Bizz Quizz will be held on Tuesday evening 17th February, raising funds for The MacMillan Butterfly Cancer Care Centre at Epsom Hospital.

Commencing at 7.00 p.m. (bar available from 6.00 p.m.) on Tuesday 17th February 2009 at Epsom Conservative Club 39 Church Street Epsom. (Next to the fire station).

The quiz is open to teams of four to six per organisation based in the North Surrey/South London area. Questions will be a mix of general knowledge and current affairs.

Cost £7.50 per person payable in advance to include a hot buffet
Bar available all evening

• Click here for an information flyer (PDF).
• Click here for an application form (PDF) .

Completed forms to be returned to Diego Alves, Rotary Club of Sutton Nonsuch, Bizz Quizz, 6 Elmwood Drive Ewell Surrey KT17 2NN. Tel: 07778 357327 Email: slaved359@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you there!