The Rotary Club of The Island and Royal Manor of Portland.

It is that time of year when your Rotary club are seeking nominations for a deserving adult citizen to receive a "Pride of Portland" Community Award...sponsored by Portland Rotary Club.

This annual award is given to a person who has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of people in the Portland Community either over the past year or over a prolonged period of time
It can be work on a large or small scale and can be awarded to volunteers or professionals working in the community.

In a change of format, it is anticipated that the winner will be presented with their award at a Community event that will also involve child or young person winners of Gold and Silver awards under the "Pride of Portland" Scheme, full details of which will be published in due course.

Please send nominations for the Community Award to Rotarian Steve Cole, 6, Herrison Cottages, Charminster, Dorchester, DT2 9RJ or e.mail ssandmcole@btinternet.com by 30th June 2012.

Thank you and I hope that June brings plenty of sunshine and warm weather for you all.

Rotarian Julia Lunn.

We have been busy planning for our Diamond Jubilee Big Lunch iPlay Picnic which will take place on Saturday 2 June, from 1-3pm at the YOI Governor’s Gardens at the end of Grove Road. Please bring your own picnic and let us provide the FREE entertainment!!!! There will be family games, jubilee-themed crafts, a soft play area, lots of fun activities and we are hoping to launch our 30ft Pirate Ship Obstacle course for the first time this year. We are keeping our fingers crossed for sunshine and blue skies as, unfortunately, the event will not be able to go ahead if it is raining.

We are very pleased to announce that have recently been awarded £200 from the Weymouth & Portland Partnership Torch Relay Grant Fund to host our iPlay Mini Olympics. This will take place at the YOI Governor’s Gardens on Saturday 14 July, from 2-4pm.? There will be more details next month but be sure to make a note in your diaries so you don’t miss it!!

Community Message from Dorset Police,

Please report any similar incidents to your local SNT on 101.

Thank you.

DORSET ART WEEKS

Around the island this time of year some of you may notice adverts and notices going up advertising Dorset Art Weeks or DAWS for short. This is a very exciting and important time for local artists and crafts people in all disciplines all across Dorset. Being the largest open studio's event of its kind in the country a lot of hard work and preparation goes in to organizing it.

I do hope that even if your not usually interested in the arts that you may take some time to visit and support the local artists taking part.
Local outlets will have the brochures containing all the details about the events taking place.
So where ever you see a sign pop in and have a chat, were a friendly bunch.

Tiffany Scull
Portland Potter
St Georges Centre workshops Reforne

Other local artists taking part;
Hundred-Aker-Wood Pottery
Sammy Polley
Carol Cruickshank
Ruth Williams
Liz Wright
Portland Sculpture Trust

Underhill goes to Sandy West.
Tophill West is won by Ray Novak

Sandy says;
"May I say a massive thank you to the people of Underhill who voted in the May 3rd elections.I am delighted to say that I won the election with 55% of the votes. Rob Hughes came second and Tim Munro lost his seat to me. Ray Nowak also won the seat for Tophill West. Although I am not Portland Born and Bred I am Portland in my heart and Portland will always come first to me.It will be an honour to serve the people of Portland both as an Underhill Cllr of 9yrs on Portland Town Council and as it's former Mayor. Now a Cllr on the Borough, my first loyalty will to be to Portland and I want to make our voice heard on the Borough. Thank you so much Underhill for having the faith in me. Regards Sandy."

Rival Rob Hughes (independant)says
"just to let you know I came second Sandy came first with a good result 400+ votes I had 184 and Tim with 141 not the best turn out out of nearly 3000 voters in Underhill guess a lot of people are disillusioned with the whole thing. I would like to say a big thank you to all the residents of Undedrhill who did turn out and vote for me on my first attempt at standing for Weymouth and Portland Council. I wish Sandy all the best in her new role I'm sure she'll do us proud."

Councillor Ray Nowak says;
"Thank you to the residents of Tophill West for electing me as their Borough Councillor.
I will strive to achieve a beter deal for Portland and I trust that my past experience as Councillor will help me achieve that aim.

Clearly the low turn out of voters is a concern and I will do all I can to try and engage more of the community so that they feel it is worth voting in the future."

Thanks to the generosity of so many people we were able to hand over the sum of £186.36.

Jan Dumble

The Rotary Club of The Island and Royal Manor of Portland.

I am pleased to congratulate all Portlanders on an award that has been received by your Rotary Club........but on your behalf.

As most of you know, when there is a natural or manmade disaster in a foreign country, Rotarians all over the U.K. are usually in the streets outside supermarkets and other shops etc. with their collecting buckets..
We use your donations for the acquisition of what are now famously known as Shelterboxes.

I am sure you have all seen T.V. pictures of these items being used in disaster areas where they bring immediate relief to the unfortunate and desperate people involved.
Each box, which costs around £500, contains the following.......... A custom designed family tent, blankets, cooking utensils, basic tools, water containers and purification , and many other items.....thereby giving shelter and dignity to those people who have lost everything through no fault of their own.

Rotary Clubs are not in competition with each other and all members follow the ethos of "Service above Self".
But it is .....you the public of Portland.... who have willingly donated and supported we Portland Rotarians in our endeavours to help others less fortunate than ourselves, that have now been awarded with a Rotary Charity "Shelterbox" Silver award.........for donating enough money to send 50 such boxes to those in need.
Thank you so much.

It will soon be Sunday 13th May .....the day and date of our Plant and Craft Fair.......
which for the first time, is being held at the Football ground in Grove Road. .....11am to 4pm .....entrance is by way of a £1-50 donation, with children under 12 free.

There will be lots of stalls selling plants, stoneware, pottery, hanging baskets, handmade walking sticks, jams, jewellery and much much more and all proceeds from this very busy day will go to various groups, clubs and individuals on the Island, most of whom will be assisting us on the day.

Ploughman's lunches and cream teas will be served in The Blues Club. You can bring the dog (on a lead) with you but beware of the spring lambs and kid goats as they may all want to play together! We shall be there in our tabards doing whatever is necessary, but will always have time for a chat with any of you should you so wish.

Another date for your diary is Saturday 16th June, which is the Annual Garden Party at Queen Anne House, Fortuneswell
This event is in aid of Julia's House Children's Hospice, but we Rotarians are only too happy to help, especially as the venue is owned by a Rotarian!

And now I am ending this months article with a PLEA.......
Over the years the Club has acquired quite a number of items which are used on a regular basis for events, e.g. two marquees, cones, plastic fencing and stakes, chairs, banners etc etc.

Unfortunately we have to move these items from the store where they are currently being kept because it is now required for other purposes.......but we have nowhere to go...........so my plea is for any one on Portland who may have...or may know someone who has....... some secure garage, shed etc that they may be willing to let us use, to please get in touch with either me on 01305/782367 or our President, Stan on 01305/789441 and we can follow it up.
Thanking you in anticipation!

Thats all for now folks, so enjoy the sunshine but as the saying goes....cast not a clout till May is out!
In Rotary Friendship,
Julia Lunn. .

With the help of Cllr Wild, I'm working on a drawing up a Community Resilience Plan for the island, at the request of Carly Galloway from WPBC.

We are looking for information to put into the plan that could be shared in the event of an emergency such as...

• community halls that could be used as rest areas,
• volunteers with 4x4 vehicles,
• generator/gas supply owners,
• tractors,
• food supplies

in fact anything at all that would assist in some way should the island suffer an emergency.

If anyone has any knowledge, ideas or contacts that they think may be helpful to the plan, please let me know.
We would of course ask permission from community volunteers before putting their contact details into the plan.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Samantha King

Assistant Town Clerk

Portland Town Council

Some of the biggest changes to the planning system since he Second World War are about to be announced by the Government.

For the first time ever
The default position for a planning applicaton will be to say 'YES'.

MORE

Outside race time periods, vessels will be allowed access to the waters of Weymouth Bay in the usual way, although the area will be under the control of Portland Harbour Authority during the whole of Games time.

Navigational Management Plan

Volunteers Wanted
to welcome Cruise Boats

I have been contacted by Portland Port who want to enlist the help of the local community over the next year to welcome the cruise ships which will begin arriving at the beginning of May. Currently when the ships come in they are greeted by the town crier and the sea cadet band before being taken off on local trips organised by the cruise companies.

What Portland Port want to do is enlist some local volunteers with good knowledge of Portland who will help to welcome the passengers and tell them about Portland, perhaps even offer walking tours of the Island. Portland Port will provide tee shirts for the volunteers and the role would be suited to retired people who have a couple of hours to spare when the ships arrive. This is a great oppurtunity to showcase Portland and try to keep some of the visitors here rather than them all go off and spend their money off the Island.

We also need local artists who would be willing to produce artwork, pictures, paintings, stone work, jewelry, local produce, (anything which is not tacky) which relates to Portland or Dorset and could be displayed on the dockside when the passengers arrive and provide an oppurtunity for them to buy local souvenirs, a bit like an open market. We hope to get about 10 outlets to start with to see how it goes. There are no guarantees that you will make loads of money, it all depends on the type of passengers. Americans love to buy quaint local items to take home.

If you are interested in either selling your work or becoming a Portland Ambassador (or whatever the role is called) then please get in touch and let me know. Also please send this to anyone you feel may be interested and are not on the usual email lists. Once we know how many people want to become involved we can have a meeting with Portland Port to move the idea forward.

Regards
Yvonne Beven
Revive Portland Coordinator
07910 550040

Portland Safer Neighbourhood Team have announced a reduction of anti-social behaviour and reported crime on the Island.

The number of reported crimes and incidents of Anti social behaviour on Portland have dropped compared to this time last year.

Comparing the period 01/04/2010 to 08/02/2011 against 01/04/2011 to 08/02/2012 the results revealed the following.

Total recorded crime showed a reduction of 14.5 %

(114 less crimes reported).

Total instances of reported anti social behaviour reduced 20.9%

(172 less reported instances of ASB).

Total amount of instances reported to police including all matters reduced 9.4%

(282 less instances).