MAY DAY 2018

MAY DAY FAYRE BREAKS ALL RECORDS

The grey of dawn was just breaking over the town as the Rotary team gathered to complete preparations for the towns 29th May Day Fayre. The sky was clear and record temperatures were forecast. Over the next few hours we were busy welcoming exhibitors, setting up stalls, checking the sound system, liaising with the Police and organising our volunteers. As the town clock struck 9, all was prepared and people started to trickle through the High Street and rec. The May Fayre was under way.

Let me take you back almost a year to July 2017 when Dave Edwards called together his team to start the planning for this years Fayre.      Yes, it’s true it takes almost a year to plan and organise, Dave has always been the moving force to make the May Fayre such a wonderful success, it’s probably the largest outdoor event in Bedfordshire with over 20,000 people attending this year.

Our aim has always been to make the May Fayre a special day out for young and old. A chance to enjoy the Fun Fair and the kids inflatables. A time for local community groups to have the opportunity to have a stall in the High Street or Parsons Rec to showcase their activities. I love to spend time at the Market Cross and enjoy the fantastic entertainment from our community on show throughout the day. All our commercial partners pay substantial contributions to take part in the day. The profits of the day go to fund the professional entertainers in Parsons rec, the balance is used to support the many charitable activities across the wider community. During the day club president Richard Johnson OBE presented cheques to our local branch of the NSPCC and to the Otters Disability Swimming Club a founder member of Rotary’s Yes We Can disability sports club. We also send our thanks to MK Dons SET for again supporting us with their football stadium and to our Buzzards football team who show their skills in a game.

So what was new on the day?

The endless sunshine was a real bonus making the splash park a real draw for families to hang out and enjoy the fun and a picnic. Our biggest innovation was the development of our food village. We kept our favourite of the Rotary Burger Bar and added hot food franchises ranging from Caribbean to Asian food choices. The new Rotary tea tent was a massive success as was the beer tent provided by the Leighton brewery. The crowd relaxed and enjoyed the great sounds of our steel band and the display from Spectrum Community Arts. The kids loved our strong man and the stilt walker. The performances of the gun dogs was simply entrancing they were simply wonderful as were the ATC with their display and the terrific performance of the fire cadets, how did they manage in their heavy uniforms and equipment in the scalding heat.

As the day drew to a close the team started the long process of packing up. In the distance Dave Edwards was heard to say:

‘it’s time to start planning for next year’

We hope you all had a fantastic time, see you next year?

YES WE CAN…… Welcomes new sports

Meeting Donny & Mooie the MK Dons mascots

Saturday was a wonderful day for our MK Buzzards as they joined with many other teams for a day of inclusive football with MK Dons SET for a series of fun matches before travelling to the Dons game against Doncaster at the stadium in Milton Keynes. It was simply fantastic at half time to join with all the other disability teams and parade around the ground to meet the crowd.

Our team meets on Tuesday evenings at 6pm at Gilbert Inglefields Academy in Leighton Buzzard, we are looking for new members to join our team simply call Dean on 01908 622937 to find out more. Its FREE to play.

Tennis joins our club on the 19th April.

We are really excited to announce the start of disability tennis as a new sport for the club. Sessions are being held every Thursday at 6pm at Linslade Tennis Club , Mentmore Road, Linslade with club coach Sara. You just need a pair of trainers as all equipment is being provided. We even have an indoors practice room in the event of rain. All the sessions are free to join contact:

  dick_sandra15@hotmail.com

Learning to play Tennis at the Linslade Club

Bowls comes to town on Sunday 22nd April

Thanks to the support of Leighton Buzzard Bowling Club, our second summer sport joining the club is Bowls. We hope you watched the Commonwealth Games on the TV and have seen how much fun it is. Our club will meet every Sunday  in Grovebury Road Leighton Buzzard at 10am. Don’t worry if you haven’t played before because lessons will be given and we will provide all the equipment. Just remember to wear a pair of trainers. Yet again we are pleased to announce that you can join and it is FREE.

To learn more contact

Stuart      lbbowling@yahoo.co.uk
Dani        dani.harding@lbmencap.org

Bowls for all

YES WE CAN……..

The YES WE CAN…… disability sports club was established by the Rotary Club of Leighton Linslade to provide a wide range of sporting activities for Leighton Buzzard and the wider district and thanks all its partners for their fantastic support.

BRAINS OF LEIGHTON LINSLADE 2018

Can you answer this question?

How many times a day was the pillar box in Market Square emptied in 1906?

Then you should enter the BRAINS OF LEIGHTON LINSLADE

Join us for the 15th year of our very popular team quiz.
Its a great evening as teams of four contest for best team, best club or best business.
The evening is full of fun questions and has a break for a really tasty hot meal and desert and includes a vegetarian option. Drinks are available at your table and are served by our volunteers.

Make up a team with your friends and colleagues and help us raise money for our local NSPCC.

Click the link for your entry form

Rotary KidsOut Day Whipsnade

National Rotary KidsOut Day Out

The first National Rotary KidsOut Day took place in 1990 and since then it has turned into the biggest single outing for disadvantaged children in the UK. With more than 29,000 children participating in 2016, the National Day Out is run in conjunction with Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. To make the National Rotary KidsOut Day the success that it is, more than 10,000 Rotarians volunteer on the day at over 100 venues. Whether they live with critical health issues, in refuge or with a disability, children across the country are taken on a fun day out to the zoo, a theme park or even the seaside, often for the first time in their lives. Through these initiatives KidsOut has taken hundreds of thousands of children on a fun day and provided thousands more with a Toy Box.Whatever their disadvantage, KidsOut brings fun and excitement into children’s lives as well as hope for a better future. Believing that every young person has a right to happiness, through its life-changing work KidsOut plays a key role in shaping the future for the better.

Having Fun at bird display

Thanks to the support of ZSL Whipsnade and the Rotary Club of Dunstable, clubs from  Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire made a special day out for 750 kids with a picnic lunch and a visit to the Zoo. This year Leighton Linslade joined with children and teachers from Oak Bank School on a glorious summers day to enjoy the wide expanse of Whipsnade and its many activities. The day was a fantastic success, it was wonderful to meet with children as they returned tired and happy after a day of sharing the joys of a day out in the countryside and the excitement of the zoo.
We send thanks to our community in supporting all our activities.  With your fantastic support it is possible to finance KidsOut special activities.

Childline

Supporting the care of children has long been a goal of Rotary. Our club has just completed a major project to support Childline locally;

Childline is run by the NSPCC and in the first few days following the outrage in Manchester ran over 120 counselling sessions for children.

• Children found the incident scary and they were worried about further attacks taking place and affecting themselves or their friends/family
• Some children were worried to go out in public, or worried about events they had planned in the future
• Children who lived in Manchester were scared that a terror attack could take place close to home, some said that they had not thought terror attacks were a threat to them before but they were now concerned
• Children who were at the concert were worried about the safety of the people who were missing, were shaken up after the event, and were upset about the loss of life
• Some children experienced racist bullying after the attack
• Overall children were distressed, anxious and upset about the event

These are comments made by children, all names and potentially identifying details have been changed to protect the identity of the child or young person. Quotes are created from real Childline contacts but are not necessarily direct quotes from the young person.

I was meant to go to the concert last night but didn’t. I keep thinking “what if?”. I know I was lucky I wasn’t there but I feel guilty. I have anxiety issues and what happened has made me worry about the same thing happening at concerts in the future.  – Girl, 16-18

I’m so scared and fed up of everything that is happening, with the attack in Manchester last night and the attack in London in March, I don’t really want to leave the house. I don’t feel safe.  I’m meant to go to a concert later this year and now I don’t want to – Girl, age unknown

I keep thinking ‘what if that happened to me?’ and it’s making me scared to go to sleep. It’s very scary because most of the people that got hurt were my age. I can’t stop thinking about the missing people. I keep looking on Twitter for updates but they’re making me feel even worse. – Girl, 16-18

I’m upset because people are making racist comments to me today and talking about the Manchester attack. It’s annoying and unfair because I have nothing to do with the attack. People shouldn’t jump to conclusions and assume that just because someone is a Muslim they are a terrorist. It isn’t fair, Boy, 12

“I feel quite angry that people think that all terrorists are Muslims and I don’t think people should be judged on the colour of their skin. At school today I felt very awkward because of my race. I’m finding the situation really stressful and I need help dealing with it. – Girl, Secondary School Age

May Fayre Fun

Thanks to all in Leighton Linslade for your support of our very special May Day Fayre. The weather was changeable yet thousands of people joined us to have fun in the High Street and Recreation ground.

This year our main displays were the fantastic Knights of the Crusades display together with a falconry display and a chance to see other wonderful birds.

View from the Helter Skelter

Many people flooded the High Street to enjoy Tom Smiths Fair or all the varied entertainment at the Market Cross throughout the day.

The May Fayre is about having fun in our town and raising money to support community activities.

We have many stalls run by volunteers promoting activities such as the scouts or the canoe club; others are raising awareness of our history or providing support to others.

All of us from Rotary send our thanks to the many thousands that attended. We are already starting to plan for next year and would welcome your ideas on how we can make the May Fayre even better.