Welcome

Welcome to the website of the Rotary Club of Folkestone.

Haiti Earthquake

There has been a very good response to our Haiti appeal locally, with many schools busy collecting cash or supplies for the unfortunate Haitians. For example, the Harvey Grammar School has already passed on the £1000 it raised in three days to purchase two Shelter Boxes, and the children of Miss Orviss' class at Highview School have collected 2 large boxes of supplies for the victims of the Haiti Earthquake, which they presented to Folkestone Rotary Club on 29th January 2010 in support of the Club's Haiti appeal. On behalf of President Peter Lapham, International Committee Chairman Mike Simmonds also collected letters written by the children to give comfort to the Haitian people in their time of need. Mike told them that the Club was extremely grateful for their hard work in collecting these donations and explained that he will make sure that the people of Haiti benefit from this wonderful effort by the children.

Representatives of Rotary arrived in Haiti three days after the devastating earthquake and there are now over 8,000 Shelter Boxes on the island, providing vital temporary accommodation for over 80,000 people. There is still a desperate need for shelter and clean water. The Club has already agreed to pay for a Shelterbox and four members have said that they will sponsor an Aquabox each. These two Rotary-run schemes are an extremely effective way of providing relief to disaster areas and we would urge everyone who would like to do something to help to send in donations to us so that we can aggregate the sums into (hopefully) a large sum towards this urgent cause. If anyone wishes to make a donation to the Rotary Club of Folkestone we will be happy to receive payments or if you prefer to sponsor a Shelterbox at £490 or an Aquabox at £80 please contact Rotarian Michael Simmonds on 01303 244 566.
The link on the left takes you to the websites for ShelterBox and Aquabox if you prefer to donate directly or would like to find out more details.

Christmas Collections 2009
We have received an overwhelming positive response from the local community during our Christmas Collections within the Shepway District area. The club’s members, along with Father Christmas, have been touring the town, collecting door-to-door for the old and needy. This year’s collections were extremely successful, especially considering the current economic climate. The updated figures show that over £6,600 was raised - higher than last year’s total! We have already received many cards and messages of thanks from those who have received a Christmas parcel. It is a real credit to the generosity of the good people of Folkestone, even during these difficult times and we would like to thank everyone involved.
Pictured below are some of Santa's little helpers, putting together the Christmas parcels prior to delivery.

Folkestone Rotary Half Marathon

The fourth Folkestone Rotary Half Marathon took place on Sunday September 27th and was yet another tremendous success thanks to the hard work and dedication of Rotarian Ray Johnson. The latest (November) total raised by the event is a stunning £31,000-plus - over twice the amount raised last year! Full details, including results, a slideshow and a report by Ray, are available via the link on the left.



The links on the left show just some of the charitable activities of the club - but there is also a strong "fellowship" element too! For the new year (the Rotary year runs from July to June), our evening meetings will be guest days when prospective members and their partners can come along to see what we do. Information about the Rotary International movement is available from the About Rotary link above and if you are interested in finding out more please contact the Club via this e-mail link: webmaster@folkestonerotary.org.