The speaker at the meeting of the Rotary Club of Kendal on 25^th February was Stephen Wilson of ‘Impact Housing’ who gave a presentation outlining the history and work done by the Association.

Originally started in 1975 in Cleator Moor to rehabilitate two streets he went on to explain how the business has grown since then and now encompasses many aspects such as, new build schemes, rehabilitating existing property, supported housing schemes for young people and elderly and social housing.

Looking after over 2500 homes in Cumbria they work closely with SLDC, the Police and Social Services.

The speaker at the meeting of the Rotary Club of Kendal on 18^th February was Richard Rhodes, the new ‘Police and Crime Commissioner’ for Cumbria.

He gave a talk on how he was persuaded to stand for election and his subsequent victory last year.

He explained his role and the function he is expected to fulfil as Commissioner and how he works with the Police although not being involved with the actual operational side of things. This is the responsibility of the Chief Constable.

The speaker at the meeting of the Rotary Club of Kendal on 4^th March was Sharon Clegg of the Leonard Cheshire YouthAbility scheme which had benefited from a grant of £800 from the club to fund an activity day at Bendrigg Lodge last November.

She explained how the charity run youth clubs in Barrow and Kendal are aimed specifically for children with both physical disabilities and learning difficulties.

The clubs, run by both full time staff and many volunteers, were able take the members to the Bendrigg centre to take in take part in many of the activities provided there. This was an invaluable experience for these disadvantaged children.

The speaker at the Rotary Club of Kendal on 11^th February was John Fitch from the Kendal Search and Mountain Rescue Team who gave a presentation on the role of the organisation.

He outlined the role of Mountain Rescue which covered the structure, the training, and the funding, as well as the actual day to day running of the team. He covered all the types if incidents they could be called to help with including search, rescue, snow, floods, swift water, major incidents and recovery.

Cumbria Mountain Rescue is the busiest in the UK and the Kendal Team needs around £50,000 per annum to run the service, with very limited government funding.