Rotary International - District 1070

Twenty seven teams from schools in the Northampton area, and five teams of teachers, recently took part in the Rotary Schools Technology Tournament, organised by the Nene Valley Rotary Club.

The teams were given the task of building a bridge over an imaginary river. There were three levels of difficulty. The basic task required a bridge that could span a 500 mm wide “river”. The intermediate task required a section of the bridge measuring 200 mm to be lifted to allow boats to pass. The advanced task required a bridge where two parts of the roadway could be raised and lowered, similar to London’s Tower Bridge. In each case, the finished bridge had to be able to withstand a 1 Kg load being pulled from one side of the bridge to the other. Since the materials supplied were thin card, straws and other lightweight materials, this was no easy task, as it required an understanding of how to make strong structures. Clever designs were also required to make mechanisms to raise and lower sections of the bridge. Marks were awarded for planning and teamwork, design analysis, development, assembly (manufacture) and whether or not the design passed the load test.

The Mayor of Northampton, Lee Mason, and Mayoress, Margaret Pritchard, came to watch the construction of the bridges and to present the prizes.

The winning teams were:
Basic Category
Bishop Stopford A
Shubhdeep Arora, Jo Tunnicliff, Joel MacDonald and Maddy Conway
Intermediate Category
Sir Christopher Hatton B
Marcus Adams, Glenn Carter, Karl Gates and Alexander Sims
Advanced Category
Kingsthorpe College B
Tom Kirkland, Emma Alderman, Harry Bailey, Karl Mackie

The Technology Tournament is part of National Science and Engineering Week 2008 (7-16 March) – a week of science and engineering events for everyone!

Young Chef graphic.

Recently, the finals for the District Young Chef competition were held in

Huntingdon and Leicester. As usual, the standard of entry was extremely high.

Hinchingbrooke School, Huntingdon, hosted competitors from the southern and eastern part of the District. Young chefs and their supporters, parents and teachers as well, arrived early for what proved to be a highly difficult competition to judge. All the judges were impressed with the standard shown by all the entrants. Following what proved to be a close decision, the winner was declared as Afaf Jackson, a 15 year old young lady sponsored by the Rotary Club of Spalding. Her winning menu was Smoked Salmon Pate followed by Roast Honey and Cumin Chicken with a medley of vegetables and fresh herbs. Her sweet was a Panetone Pudding served with Cherries and Crème Fraiche. Second was 13 year old Emily Green sponsored by the Rotary Club of Northampton West ,and third was Marcus Willis, a 14 year old sponsored by the Rotary Club of Biggleswade Ivel.

The following Saturday saw the Northern final at the Samworth Academy, Leicester. This competition embraced entries from Leicester and the surrounding area. Again standards were very high, and to ensure some continuity in judging, Robert Presland was again senior judge. Only opening in September 2007 as a flagship academy the facilities were superior to anything seen before. Lucky pupils! One glitch on the day was that, being so new, the college has declared itself a nut-free zone, so the poor competitor who had a recipe with nuts was somewhat shocked. To his credit, however, he stayed in the competition and was rewarded with a creditable third place. The winner at Leicester was 15 year old Richard Jee, sponsored by the Rotary Club of The Soar Valley, whose menu was Smoked Salmon Tartlet with Watercress Salad followed by Rack of Lamb with Anchovy and Thyme Crust. His sweet was a Lemon and Lime Cheesecake. Second was Harry Mason 15 years, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Lutterworth Wycliffe, and third was Mark Jones, a 14 year old, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Brackley.

Thanks go to Waitrose whose sponsorship provided for all the food the contestants used. We wished our two winners all success for the Regional Final at Ollerton and hope to celebrate one of them emerging from the National Final sponsored by Fillipio Berio on the 19th April as National Champion District Governor, Tony Martin officiated at both events and presented certificates and prizes.

For the Full Story, go to the latest edition of News & Events.

Photo credit Rich Hendry

A giant Rotary wheel and the words "END POLIO NOW" was beamed onto the side of the House of Commons to the left of Big Ben on Rotary International's 103rd Birthday on Saturday, 23rd February -- to start a challenge to raise $100 million to help finally to eradicate polio from the world. Polio eradication has been Rotary's top priority since 1985 and working with WHO, UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rotary International has managed to cut the numbers of polio cases by 99 per cent. The disease is now only endemic in four countries: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Recently, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $100 million to help in the Rotary campaign and Google Foundation has also just donated $3.5 million.

For further information click here.