John Berks gave us an entertaining talk about the radio stations he had been involved with and his battle to be even considered for radio.
The Club really enjoyed tales of people and programmes long since gone.
Here's an episode of Squad Cars to cheer you up.
Ah....nostalgia.
We had two visitors of note. The District Governor, Jankees Sligcher, who was there on an unofficial visit and, in front of him, from Australia,Dave Tuzewski of the Rotary Club of Adelaide Parks. He heads up the Disaster Aid Response Team which is a project of the Rotary Club of Endeavour Hills.
Disaster Aid Response Team
A key element of our disaster response is having trained volunteers on the ground.
This is the Disaster Aid Response Team (DART)
Role of the DART
The DART members are our local project managers in a disaster and have considerable responsibility to Disaster aid and our supporters.
The role at the disaster Location includes:
Identifying appropriate local contacts who can assist in identifying the areas where our aid will be most beneficial.- Meeting with the communities that have identified and determining their needs.
- Determining the best way of providing aid that meets the communities needs.
- Reporting the situation to the Disaster Aid Board so appropriate levels of resources can be allocated. (In many cases this may include approval for significant in country expenditure)
- Managing and monitoring the provision of aid.
- Reviewing the effectiveness of the aid
DART Member Requirements
DART’s are all volunteers They are required to contribute their time to:
- Travel, at short notice, for up to 2 weeks to respond to Disasters. (travel and accomodation costs will be met by Disaster Aid)
- Be active in fundraising, including giving presentation to Disaster Aid Supporters
- Attend training sessions
Good health and a reasonably high level of physical fitness is required.
Applicants will be required to submit to a comprehensive medical before an application can be proceed.
Every effort is taken by Disaster aid to minimise the risk, however by necessity we expect them to perform in the difficult conditions of Disaster affected regions.
As many risks will still be present all prospective DARTs' should discuss their intentions with their families
DART Training
Dart Training is typically over several days typically organised over around 2 - 3 weekends.
Although the cost of the training is met by Disaster Aid each trainee must meet their travel costs in attending the training days.
The training will include;
- Project management
- Managing personal safety.
- An understanding of the all the resources that we can deploy.
- Understanding the concept of 'Smart Aid'.
If the prospective DART successfully completes the training they will be invited to attend the first response while workig with a an experienced DART. To see more see their website. http://disasteraidaustralia.org.au
This Week
Our speaker is Dr Azar Jammine, Director and Chief Economist at Econometrix. he will be talking on 'Rating Downgrades and the Implications'.
Dr Azar Jammine is Director and Chief Economist of Econometrix. He has been in his current position since December 1985 and has established a significant profile in South Africa as an analyst and commentator on domestic and international economic affairs. Dr Jammine has conducted approximately 4000 presentations to leading client corporations and other institutions as well as at conferences dealing with the local and international economic environment. In this capacity he has been invited over the years by several corporations to serve as independent non-executive director.
Dr Jammine is a member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation, a body of experts appointed by the Department of Science and Technology. Academically, Dr Jammine obtained a BSc (Hons) in Mathematical Statistics and a BA (Hons) in Economics at Wits, followed by an M.Sc in Economics from the LSE and a PhD at the London Business School.
A Rotary Community Corps in Swindon, England
We headed down to the launch of Let’s Loop Swindon, an initiative which encourages businesses in the local area to make themselves more accessible to the hard of hearing. There we caught up with two of the members of the Rotary Community Corps who are working to launch this project to find out why it’s so important to them…
You may think that standing in a queue to buy a cup of coffee would never be a nerve racking experience. But that isn’t the case for Lin Barker, who was diagnosed with hearing loss a few years ago. Lin, and the 10 million other people who experience a form of hearing loss in the UK, are struggling to perform simply everyday tasks such as shopping at the local supermarket, due to a lack of functioning hearing loops in shops and businesses.
“Being hard of hearing is still a source of embarrassment for me, because shops often don’t have the appropriate equipment for me to be able to hear what the assistant is saying. I feel so nervous when I approach a till because I cannot be sure that when I get there I will be able to understand what is being said,” Lin describes.
It is experiences such as these that inspired Lin to join a team of Rotary Community Corps who are working together with national charity Hearing Link to encourage businesses in and around the Swindon area to have efficient working loops that the staff are trained to use effectively.
The Community Corp, which was set up by Tim Mason and the Click 4 Action eRotary club, has been heading into banks, pharmacies, shops, and many more to perform audits of their loops and signage to identify which businesses are performing well and which need improvement when it comes to their facilities.
This information is then passed on to Hearing Link UK and Swindon Borough Council who will then work together to try and encourage businesses to make themselves more accessible to those who are hard of hearing within the area.
Stephen Aftelak, another member of the Community Corp who suffers with hearing loss, explains: “There is still very much a stigma around hearing loss, and as a result many people are diagnosed late as they don’t want to admit that they are losing their ability to hear.
“We can change that Stigma and the first step is to make people with hearing loss feel more included in public spaces, by making it the norm to have working and readily available hearing loops.”
The official launch of Let’s Loop Swindon was held at the National Trust Headquarters in Swindon and was attended by representatives from a number of the organisations that are involved including the Chief Executive of Hearing Link UK, Dr Lorraine Gailey, the leader of Swindon Borough council David Renard and the Business Development Manager of leading loop manufacturer Contacta, Andrew Thomas. It follows the launch of other similar Let’s Loop schemes across the country, including a particularly successful campaign in Eastbourne.
Tim comments: “I am very proud of all the work that has been put into Let’s Loop Swindon by both the Rotary Community Corps and the supporting organisations. We have the opportunity to really make a difference to the lives of people affected by hearing loss in this area and if we all pull together we can persuade local businesses to make a change.”
Click here for more information on the Let’s Loop Swindon initiative.
Box Out
What is a hearing loop?
A hearing loop consists of a physical loop of cable or an array of looped of cables which are placed around a designated area, usually a room or a building. The cable generates a magnetic field throughout the looped space which can be picked up by a hearing aid
A hearing loop consists of a physical loop of cable or an array of looped of cables which are placed around a designated area, usually a room or a building. The cable generates a magnetic field throughout the looped space which can be picked up by a hearing aid
Fact File
- 10 million people in the UK suffers hearing loss
- 3.7 million are of working age
- 6.5 million are aged 60
- 2 million people use hearing aids
- 800,000 are severely or profoundly deaf
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