District 13’s Chair Comes Home


Some of you may remember an article which appeared in Spring 2014 about a special Inner Wheel chair. It seems that District 13 wanted to provide a chair in memory of the second Association President, Mrs Shakerley, herself a member of Clapham Club in District 13. But, Association asked all districts to subscribe to a chair in memory of Margarette Golding. However, District 13 proceeded and in 1952 a large carved wooden chair was delivered to the YMCA where the District met. Each District Chairman used it at District meetings until 1995 when it disappeared at the time of renovation works. That, they thought, was that.


Some time later, the Member of Council at the time received an unexpected email. A member of the Saxmundham club had moved to a house which she had purchased contents and all. There among the furniture was the chair, with “District 13” carved on the back. Many phone calls and emails later, members of District 13 travelled down to reclaim “their” chair.


It was offered to Rotary for their headquarters at York Gate and after a clean-up, it settled in there nicely. However, Rotary no longer wanted it and once again, the chair was “homeless”. Might there be room for it in Warwick Square at the Association office? So, it now resides there in all its splendour in the Association meeting room.


The wonderful Presidential chair has come home!


Dresses from Pillow Cases!


How interesting to find two different Clubs in District 8 both adopting the same simple idea to help children in Africa. Beccles Club had a very pleasant and productive day with the sewing machines and all the other necessary bits and pieces to turn pillow cases into little dresses. All it needed was a little patience, some bias binding, elastic, lace and colourful braiding. The ladies certainly did not waste their time as around two dozen dresses were completed ready to be taken out to the slum areas of Mesese in Uganda by the charity Ugandaid.


The direct link with the charity is through the sister of one of the Club members. She has visited Uganda several times and was moved by the extreme poverty she saw there. Her previous visit had seen her taking homemade sanitary towels and knickers – once again provided by Club members’ efforts on another social sewing day.


Meanwhile Ipswich East Club was doing the very same thing! For them it was a case of sew, sew, quick, sew – or not quite so quick in some cases. Over a couple of evenings some 40 pillow cases were transformed into little dresses. Following on from the necessary cup of coffee to provide the energy to thread a needle, the tops of the pillow cases were cut open, then they were folded in half to cut out the armholes – followed by the task of threading the elastic before the sewing machines transformed them. The ladies were amazed at the many shapes and sizes that pillowcases come in. The greatest fun however, was customising the “dresses” with piping and ribbons. It is to be hoped that the children get as much fun out of wearing these as the ladies had in making them.


Thanks to Beccles and Ipswich East Clubs


Dublin’s visit to Sicily


Dublin President Lisa Tacco is Italian and was formerly a member of the Inner Wheel Club of Noto, Sicily and eight members of the Dublin club joined her on a friendship visit there. The Irish ladies stayed in a castle! The annual colourful festival of flowers, the Inflorato Flower Festival, was on in the city. This year’s theme was “China” and millions of flower petals were used by the students of Noto to make a carpet of flowers on the streets; a fantastic sight.


The ladies were hugely entertained while there with a grand banquet run by the Inner Wheel club of Ragusa and there they


were joined by the Inner Wheel club of Milan. They visited the famous baroque Cathedral of San Giorgio, also toured Taormina and Syracuse and for those with a sweet tooth – a chocolate factory. We are hoping that one (or all) of those clubs will visit Dublin soon.


Helen Duffy - D16


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Innerwheel


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