Club Blog

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18th of April 2022 - Anton Classic Car and Motorbike Show.

Held for the first time on the new showground at Weyhill on a warm sunny bank holiday, the event attracted over 150 cars and motorbikes. It was designated as a park and show event with most of the drivers/owners having pre registered to attend.

Brave Anton members turned up at 7.30am to set up and start to receive the cars. We had been allocated a space, alongside a car boot site but such was the popularity that the site organisers had to increase the space available to us on 3 occasions during the morning.

The event was generally accepted as a success and a number of owners were asking when the next meet would take place.

There was no entry charge either for cars or spectators but club members with buckets were continually looking for donations. A sum in the region of £1000 was raised for the clubs charity account.

Trophy's were presented for a number of categories.

17th March 2022 - Andover Trees United

A day of celebration at Harmony Wood, The Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire planted the last Oak in the wood. The day signafied the end of a 10 year project during which 10,000 Andover school children had planted 10,000 trees. The club were invited as active volunteers over the last couple of years.


5th March 2022 - Emergency Ukraine Appeal

Most Rotary Clubs around the world have been collecting money for emergency assistance for the misplaced people of the Ukraine. Localy the two Andover Rotary clubs joined together for a day collecting donations around the Andover Town Centre.The collection raised over £4000 and Anton Rotary had already sent £1000 to the Disaster Relief appeal where the government had promised to double the value of these donations.

1st February 2022 - RDF Donation

Andover 'Riding for the Disabled' is a charity the club has supported over the years and following a talk by Mary Childs the club agreed to a donation of £1000 to assist the charity support local children.
President Richard presented the cheque on behalf of the club.
16th December - Annual Christmas Dinner

After many discussions regarding Covid precautions it was decided that the Dinner would go ahead at The Oak. With the predominance of candleabrums the room had a gothic look which with the members dressed up in their DJ's this gave the event a look of a 1950's movie. . The club entertained 4 visitors Graham and Nigel North (The farmers whose land has ofter been used for our Metal Detecting events) and Ben Tuffin from The Andover Observer and his pertner Becky Speculo. Entertainment was provided by the members each of whom had been asked to bring a joke or a story to present to the dinner.
22nd- 26th November - Tree Planting

As the community forest grows north of Andover more requests are received to assist in completeing the project. Again this week Rotarians were out assisting school children to do their bit to help 'Save the Planet' by planting trees to absorb the CO2 in the atmospherer. Over 850 school children have been involved with this stage of the project. We were tasked to assist small children to plant, mulch and cover individual saplings. The kids all bit their bit and enjoyed doing it. Club members then went to check on rtheir earlier efforts and found a real rewilding situation. Probably best that the trees are left to grow themselves!


18th November - Skittles night.

Prior to a busy period in the run up to Christmas the club took an 'away evening' to the Skittle Alley at the Queens Head Hotel in Ludgershall. This was to be a social evening and the members were joined by their ladies. The participants were split into 2 teams ied by Jean McLeod and Sandra Fluen. After a ferocious battle Jean's team rolled out victorious. The individual with the highest score was the Treasurer's wife Jane with an individual score of 20 pts over 3 rounds. The food was good, the company the best and a happy and involved evening was enjoyed by all.

10th October - Andover Cycling Festival

The club were asked to assist with the administration of the event by manning the registration desks. Our part of the day which started at 7.30am was based in the Guild Hall in Andover High Street. There were 3 runs planned 15, 50 or 80 miles and the competitors ranged from 7 year old to a 77 year old. The day started out damp and overcast but improved as time went on.




18th - 19th September Metal Detecting Weekend.

On a sunny weekend around 150 keen metal detectors set off to scour the fields around Weyhill for historical treasures. The action was spread over two days as normal with a number of people camping at the Weyhill fair overnight. The fun carried on on Sunday with a good selection of items found and reported. One of the interesting finds were a number of 'Trade Tokens' these were a form of payment for small transactions, some times when small coins were in short supply. In general they did not display the monarchs image as thiis would be considered the production of a counterfeit currency.At some times they were considered as 'The Poor's Coins.





30th August 'Duck Day

This was the club's first public event since the lockdown regulations were resinded. All the club members turned out ably assisted by the 'Mens Sheds' group from Andover to provide a fun day for all. This years event included a new race where children could purchase a boat and decorate it themselves. These boats were entered in a special race with a cash prize. A childrens carosel and coffee van were on site to extend the options for children and parents. Love Andover provided all the PA services and the music was supplied by a group from Farnbourgh.
26th August

In preparation for the major event next Monday the club had a stall on the Thursday market in Andover High Street. We were selling duck tickets and small boats (provided by 'Mens Shed', these were to be taken away and decorated by the children before returning for a special race on Monday afternoon.
31st July

The club is out assisting Naomi House and Jack's Place who were running a Bubble Rush Fundraiser at The Charlton Lakes Park Lots of fun for all as they ran round the park and through all 5 bubble tunnels. About 500 turned up on the day the children espicially liked the bubbles..

10th July.

The club is back in action. The local Andover Hospice was running it's annual fund raising night walk. Starting at John Hansen School, the course was a 2.5 mile circuit through the west of Andover. The club was asked to assist as route marshals, 5 members took part and we were spread around the course sharing marshalling statioms with other volunteers.
The walk started at 9 pm and thelast weary walkers signed back in around 2am on Saturday morning. Most of the participants completed their sponsored distance. A successful evening which should have raised arounf £15,000 for the hospice.



17th June 2021.

The Rotary year was coming to a close and the AGM/Assembly was held at The Oak. Due to the changing Covid regulations the meeting took place in a marquee outside the pub. While the rain drummed on the fabric the club turned its attention to the next3 months and discussed a number of projects suggested by the projects group.

© Anton Rotary Club July 2021