FUNDRAISING
Dornoch Highland Games 2011
Top prize goes to a generous local Dornoch reveller
Having had a go on the ‘lucky nail’ and the tombola this lucky lady strolled off with the top prize of the day, the bottle of fizz!
Fortunately this was towards the end of the day (purely by chance, but good marketing anyway!). In any case, having also ‘had a go’ on the lucky nail pull, she clearly wanted to donate to support the Rotary and our projects more than she wanted to win. Her charitable motivation was duly rewarded by a super prize that was well appreciated.
We are right in the middle of the summer season with shows and games now. Over £500 was earned by the volunteers manning the Dornoch Highland games. Given the event is on a weekday (Friday), this was clearly a well worthwhile investment of the members time.
Thanks for support on the shows so far go to President Graeme, Caroline, Hugh, Christine, John, Tony, Alasdair and Alistair, Malcom, David, Terry and, of course Paddy Murray, Junior Vice & Community & Vocational Chair; organiser in charge for the season!
Many hands make light work, but in the case of these types of events, the more hands 'on deck' the more money we tend to make for the good causes and the more fun it is. We look forward to totting up the summer totals where fun and charity go hand in hand.
THE 2010/11 FUNDRAISER - A 'Reel' SCOTTISH CELEBRATION!
(Lots more lovely pictures on the Fun and Games page)
The Club forwent their usual Burns night and instead held a “White Heather Club Tribute Night” (wi’ a touch o Burns) as a fundraiser for the urgent help required for the victims of recent floods in Brazil and Pakistan.
And what a success it was as around £3,500 was raised through the generosity of the people of Sutherland by the sale of tickets for the show and through the associated raffle.
The White Heather Tribute was a triumph thanks to the fabulous local talent all of whom donated their service free of charge to help the cause:
The whole evening went with a swing thanks to the foot tapping music provided by the excellent Strathair Dance Band whose members had travelled from all over Easter Ross and Suitherland to help our charity efforts.! (photo provided by Clive Grewcock).
Elaine Shearer’s singing was breath-taking, Paul Griffiths brought Burns songs to life. Versatile Jimmy
Macdonald was superb with his instrumentation and his singing voice.
John Duncan’s singing was magnificent, while Piper Neil Cameron blew us away
But giving our adult stars hot competition were the youthful performers! The vivacious and extraordinary Standfast Dancers knocked the Dixie Ingram Dancers into the proverbial cocked hat! Then there were the Struie Gaelic Singers and musicians from Tain Royal Academy who stole everyone’s hearts with their haunting melodies and precocious talent.
This was a night that every one of the 150 people attending the sell out show will remember for a long time. The next big Rotary fundraiser will be the annual Duck Race on the River Brora in early June which will raise money exclusively for local charities and groups.
Prize Draw Winners
The winner of our New Year Draw which took place at the White Heather Club Event was John MacLeod, possibly Brora's greatest community helper. The man who puts up the christmas lights, who keeps the Jubilee Walk well maintained and safe to use and who quietly does so much (often before the rest of us get up in the morning). The Club was delighted to welcome John and Jean MacLeod to our Wednesday meeting and to be able to hand over a cheque for £200 plus a short break in the Links Apartments. There can be no more popular or more deserving winner.
Pics show handover of prize.
THE PERFORMERS ON THE NI WERE AS FOLLOWS:
A host of local talent .........
The Standfast Dancers Sutherlands top demonstration troupe for Scottish and stage choreography
John Duncan (Dornoch's own answer to Bill McCue)
Eilean Shearer
Sutherlands Moira Anderson
Jimmy MacDonald
Sutherland's Joe Gordon
Paul Griffith
the modern Kenneth McKellar
The Tain Childrens Gaelic Choir & Harpist
The Strathair Scottish Dance Band
Plus Pipers and Fiddlers
and our own Alistair Risk as Compere, a job he did for Andy Stewart in a past life!!
Splat the RAT!! A big hit at Dornoch Games
SHOW SEASON IN FULL FLOW - SPLAT THE RAT!
Fundraising shots taken at the Dornoch Show supported by East Sutherland Rotary along with the Sutherland Show, Helmsdale Games and Tain Gathering where members of East Sutherlandsupported the new Club.
DUCKS FLOCK INTO BRORA HARBOUR
As summer has at last made it to the
east coast of Sutherland the ornithologists have been delighted with the wide range of migratory birds that are still passing through or are arriving to stake a claim to nesting sites - Osprey, Eagles, Little Terns, Artic Terns and much more. However on Sunday around one hundred bird fanciers and enthusiasts were gathered at full tide near the mouth of the River Brora when a flock of some 1500 Oxyura Jamaicensis Xanthinus (the Ruddy Yellow Duck) appeared under the Telford Bridge. These tiny birds seem to appea
r every year at about the same time and bird watches have been impressed by their seeming competitive nature as they gather at the bridge, then dive into the river before paddling furiously down stream towards the open sea.
This year duck number 270 belonging to Shelley Murray of Golspie left all other birds in its wake as it was 50 lengths clear as it passed the harbour In second place was 631 belonging to Nan McCrea of Brora while I Smith of Golspie's bird 286 was in third leaving a tired 640 belonging to Kian Gunn of Brora trailing in 4th. After the race Rotary President Alistair Risk announced that some £1500 had been raised for local charities and thanked the sponsors--The Sutherland Inn and Alister Norrie of Brora GC for their support and gave a special thank you to the generous people of Golspie
and Brora and beyond who backed their ducks with hard cash and made the event possible
Pic1 Ducks up close!
Pic2 shows Paddy Murray, William Sutherland and the invisible Jim Cunningham helping the ducks start the race.
Help for Heroes Burns Night
On Friday 29th January the intrepid members of the East Sutherland Rotary Club along with friends from the new Tain Club battled through snow drifts and blizzards and hosted a wonderful Burns Supper at the Falls of Shin deep in the Forest of Balnagowan. Mr El Fayed had generously made his Restaurant available to hold this special fund-raised in aid of the Help for Heroes Charity.
This was a superb evening in every respect--the ambiance of the venue beautifully decked for the occasion, the first class food provided by resident chef Phil Barratt. The hostmanship of manager June McAuliffe and her team of catering and retail staff and the entertainment was amongst the best seen or heard in the county for many a year.
Firstly the guests were entertained by the talented and charming choir and musicians from the Tain Gaelic Medium School who played and sang not just the songs of our Gaelic Heritage but a selection of Burns classics.
Then after our warming reception drinks we were shown into the banqueting area by "Hairy Highlanders" in full 17th century costume--the Battlefield Highlanders from Inverness--a really different and exciting addition to the evening--and one of them Brian performed the best Address to the Haggis the writer has seen this century.
The top table of Jamie Stone (Liberal) MSP---Deirdre McKay (Labour) Highland Council, Alistair Risk and June McAuliffe provided first class speeches with the Toast to the Lassies and the reply a true battle of the Politicians and the sexes--who won ????
The Immortal Memory was well delivered and a highlight but the music and the singing from Eilaine Shearer, Alan Mcleod and Vieda their fantastic violinist simply blew our minds--romantic, poignant, evocative and perfect were just a few of the descriptions heard amongst the audience.
The fund raising was fast and furious, £1000 the approximate target raised for a very good cause.
Following the 'Magic Meeting' it is fantastic to report that with the help for 5 wonderful Golspie ladies and the hard work of many members we have raised over £2000 in the first week of our Haiti Fundraising and have now sent 4 additonal Shelterboxes to that stricken country. The generosity of the Sutherland people has been awesome as they pressed money into the collection boxes at Grant of Dornoch and the Co-ops of Golspie and Brora.
Well Done Sutherland!!
The East coast villages of Sutherland have once again shown that they are amongst the most generous and kindhearted anywhere!!
Pictured Mike Halley with Rev John Sterrett of Golspie with Isobel Murray, Wendy Flood and the highly successful fund-raising ladies who manned The stall at Golspie
As part of their project to mark their 21st Birthday the Rotary Club of East Sutherland launched a BIG HOLIDAY DRAW in the hope that they could raise £2000 towards fighting Polio and providing clean water in India and Nepal.
These targets were almost doubled before Christmas, but when the Haiti Earthquake causing so much hardship and suffering happened the club doubled its target and dedicated all money raised during January to March towards the Shelterbox Relief Scheme in Haiti with a further target of £2,000.
Stalls in the Tain, Brora and Golspie Co-ops and in Grants of Dornoch were set up and brought in hundreds of pounds from generous shoppers and the club also received generous donations from all over the county from individuals as well as the Burns suppers at Timespan and Golspie.
As a result the total raised for charity has already passed £7,000 and is still rising.
This has enabled the local Rotary club to send 6 Shelterboxes already to Haiti each containing a 10 man tent, water purifcation equipment, 10 beds, pots pans and cooking equipment and much much more.
And this week Mike Halley the Highland Shelterbox co-ordinator visited to thank all of Sutherland for their generosity and support.
He was able to tell them that so far over 100 Shelterboxes have gone from the Northern Rotary Clubs and that this week Shelterbox opened a Tented Township for 70,000 people plus a 100 bed recuperation hospital in Haiti thanks to the 10,000 Shelterboxes sent from Rotary in the UK and more Shelterboxes will arrive there every week for the next month as the recovery of the people and the island begins.
So well done to everyone who gave so generously.
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