Charities Fair - Shepperton

7th March.  I decide to grace the biennial Charities fair with my presence. This Fair has been organised by Shepperton & Sunbury Rotary Club for many years and has grown in size and popularity during that time. The club hires Shepperton Village Hall for the day and invites local charities to set up stalls inside. The idea is to increase public awareness of the work that the Charities do and hopefully recruit some volunteers. It is well supported by local councillors, and the local MP was expected during the morning.

                                                                   Shepperton Village Hall

As I am responsible for PR at Shepperton Aurora in addition to my Consort duties, I offered to deliver our display stand to the hall. This would be shared between the two Shepperton clubs to display material about our work in the community. Firstly I had to collect the Display stand from John Dumbrell’s house, where it is stored, so I left home early to make sure I wasn’t late. My new car was on my drive, and I was looking forward to driving it into town, as I had hardly been anywhere in it since I collected it from the garage the previous Wednesday. I have always been like this with new cars, for the first few weeks I don’t really want to go anywhere in it in case it gets damaged. This feeling wears off eventually, and I start to treat the car with my usual carelessness. The vehicle was a Renault Grand Scenic Limited Energy 1.5 dCi 110 Stop & Start (remember the good old days when cars had simple names like Ford Escort?) and there were just 8 miles on the clock when we collected it. We chose the Grand Scenic because it has a lot of luggage space, which we need for the wheelchair, luggage, golf clubs, the dog, and of course shopping. I had the advantage of test driving a Grand Scenic last November when the DG’s fellow District Governor John Waddell allowed me to use it to drive the Consortium* to a shopping trip in Stratford Upon Avon.

                                         My Renault Grand Scenic Limited Energy 1.5dCi 110 Stop & Start

Anyway, I was just about to set off to John’s house to collect the display stand.  The car is ‘keyless’ in that you don’t use the key (which is actually a big plastic rectangle) to get into the vehicle, or even to start the motor, you just need to have it on your person. How cool is that? Also there is no need to turn off the parking brake, as it releases as soon as you engage gear to drive away. At least that is what’s supposed to happen. Today it refused to release, and I couldn’t drive away without stalling the car. I switched the engine on and off a couple of times. It still wouldn’t release. I tried manually releasing the brake, but that wouldn’t work either. So I got out of the car and walked away (it locks itself automatically as you walk away) and then went back and tried again. This time it worked fine. I have no idea why that happened, but it made me late at the Hall, despite my best intentions.

                                                      My car 'key'

I needn’t have worried. When I got to the Hall, things were a bit chaotic, as 20 or 30 charities were simultaneously trying to set up their stalls, unloading cars, tripping over each other etc.  Eric Painter and Peter Routley from Shepperton & Sunbury Rotary were havens of calm in turbulent waters, as they patiently dealt with any problems the stallholders may have had. I chatted with a few people I knew, and after several attempts, a place for our display stand was found in the foyer, and it was time for me to go home and fetch the DG, who was making an official visit to the Charities fair today. After dropping her off at the Hall, I went off on an errand to Tolworth, which I will describe another time.

                        Peter Bailey and Pat Burrell from the Sunbury and Shepperton Local History Society

I arrived back at the Village Hall a couple of hours later in time to meet the Spelthorne MP, Kwasi Kwarteng. He greeted me like an old friend, although I sensed it was one of those situations where he knew he had met me before, but couldn’t remember who I was. It’s understandable that he can’t remember everybody he meets in the course of his job, but a little homework on his part would have told him that the Consort to the District Governor was going to be present today. I joined him in a wander among the stalls, and we both stopped at the Sunbury Flood Volunteers charity. This group was formed as a result of the terrible floods last winter along the Thames, in which Sunbury homes suffered a lot of damage. The MP was particularly interested to know if the volunteers all lived in Sunbury. He seemed disappointed to learn that some of them were from Hampton (i.e. outside his constituency) but seemed satisfied that the majority of them were from Spelthorne. I had been impressed with their work in the floods last year, and I resolved on the spot to join them. At some point in the next year they will send me on a rescue course. Next time there are floods in this area, I expect I will be able to dash around in one of those rubber dinghies with a powerful outboard motor. I shall call it the Cruising Consort.

                                         Spelthorne MP Kwasi Kwarteng (coat over arm) chats to exhibitors

Outside the Hall I came across Douglas Dick, who had brought along one of the sailing boats used by the charity Sailability at Queen Mary Reservoir. Sailability provide opportunities for disabled people to sail at the reservoir, either in small Access dinghies or in groups aboard the Long Boat, which he had brought with him today. Also outside the Hall was a man who was making bird boxes out of blocks of wood, and giving them free to children. I think he was asking for donations to charity. It seemed everywhere I looked there was another charitable endeavour being displayed.

                                                    Douglas Dick with the Sailability long boat

As I walked round I came across the optician Ian Squire on his Mission for Vision stand. I am hoping to organise a Rotary Global grant for his Charity, which is opening  a Vision centre in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of  Congo, that will train local people in Optometry. He has designed a lens-cutting machine that operates on solar power, so will be very useful in remote corners of the DR Congo. Ian said he met some local Rotarians when he visited Kinshasa recently, and they told him they knew me. My fame is truly International these days.

                                                      The DG tries to recruit a new Rotarian

After spending a little time admiring the fine array of home made cakes in the refreshment area (all made by the ladies of Shepperton & Sunbury Rotary, I was told) it was time for the DG and I to leave.  I wouldn’t be surprised if this turned out to be the most successful Charity Fair to date. Besides the hall being packed with worthy causes, there were large numbers of people wandering around and talking to stallholders, so I hope they gained a few more volunteers as a result.  

                                                        A fine array of home made cakes on offer

*Consortium – Collective word for a group of Consorts