The Rotary Club of Fareham

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The Rotary Club of Fareham

The Rotary Club is part of a world-wide network of business people raising money for local, national and international communities in need of help.

Fareham Rotary Club received it's Charter in 1946, as a daughter club of the Rotary Club of Gosport. In turn we have become mother club to RC Petersfield, RC Locksheath, & RC Fareham Meon. We are twinned with a number of Rotary Clubs around the world. We are an active mixed gender club of around 45 members, with a full social and charitable calendar. Our weekly meetings feature guest speakers, gro

up meetings, social planning and fund raising events. We provide a beach-side community facility, (The Wheel House), which is used by social and charity groups from the local area. We meet on a Thursday at 12:00 for 12:30 for lunch (5th Thursday at 1900). Our venue is Cams Hall Estate Golf Club, Cams Hill, Fareham, PO16 8UP. If you are interested in joining us please email [email protected]

19/08/2026

Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (Gafirs)
At our 13th August lunchtime meeting we had a talk from Joanne Young the chair of Gafirs. Being a member of Gafirs runs in the family for Joanne for as of as year there were 4 generations of her family in the service.
Gafirs operates in the eastern Solent between Titchfield Haven and Gosport. The Solent as whole is one of the busiest areas of water in the UK. It has the largest number of independent and RNLI lifeboats in a given area in this country.
Gafirs was founded in 1969 as a declared facility to the UK coastguard and is a charity registered in England. It was formed following a drowning in Stokes Bay and has been on its current site since 1985. The service is managed and delivered entirely by volunteers. Whist there is no age limit for the crew there is a stringent fitness requirement and from next year they must have medical certificates. There is a cadet section for the 14-17 year age group and they undertake instruction in first aid, lifeguarding and general lifesaving skills.
The service has two main lifeboats. The largest is 9 metres long and has a top speed of 43 knots. It has a crew of between 3 and 4. The second lifeboat is smaller at 4.8 metres long and a maximum speed of 30 knots. It is crewed by between 2 to 3 volunteers. Finally, there is a much smaller rib used for beach rescue.
On average there are about 100 responses to incidents a year. They range from
groundings, flat batteries, lost masts, and towing stricken vessels etc. The most serious cases to which they can be called involve boats taking in water, persons overboard, missing persons, head injuries and cardiac arrests. In addition, Kafirs offers a wide range of services to the community such as safety presentations to water sport clubs, accident prevention and beach safety events at schools and promotions at local fairs and fetes.

Joanne’s talk was enlivened by two short films showing the lifeboats in action, which looked very exciting, and the launching procedure which has changed over the years.

This was a fascinating talk about this highly regarded service which forms such an important function in this maritime area.

09/08/2026

At our 23rd July Rotary lunch Annie Thomas came to speak about the Southampton Street Pastors, a body of just over 150 Christian men and women volunteers who engage with people on the street offering reassurance, safety and support. The organization has been active in Southampton for just over 15 years and is based at the Office/Community Room of St. Marys Fire Station.
Annie is one of the volunteer pastors. They all undergo a thorough in-depth recruitment, DBS checking and 45 hours of in person training prior to going out on the street. The Street Pastors: work with the homeless and street-attached during the day mid-week, work with schools and particular areas of the city, patrol in the evening when teenagers are out and about; and have nighttime patrols between 10.30pm and 4.00am. Support is given to two main groups, party goers and the homeless with support to the latter being one of the main purposes of the Street Pastors.
The Street Pastors patrol in uniform, though they are not a “uniform service”, so that they are clearly identifiable. They benefit from having the time to deal with people in a way that many of the other hard-pressed services may be unable to do. As such they provide a reliable and trusted resource that saves frontline police officers hundreds of hours in dealing with the intoxicated, the vulnerable or those needing some form of support.
Sadly, homeless people may be preyed upon and feel unsafe, and this is one of the reasons they welcome the presence of the Street Pastors who through regular engagement build up trust and an understanding that they can be relied upon.
Being on patrol requires being prepared for all circumstances. Thus, a lot of “kit” is taken along such as: bottled water, pot noodles (for some of the homeless this may be their first food of the day), tubes of pastels, flasks of hot water, Biscoff biscuits, sick bags, a dustpan and brush (for clearing up broken glass), flip flops (to provide some party goers with footwear) and a directory with a comprehensive list of services and showing where hot food may be obtained. Also taken are a first aid kit and a ‘stop the bleed’ kit.
The Street Pastors organisation works closely with the Southampton Council who also help fund it. Funds are also received from the Office of the Police Crime Commissioner, some local businesses and members of the public and local churches.
It was a pleasure to have such an interesting and illuminating talk highlighting issues of the nighttime economy and homelessness and of those who selflessly offer their assistance. Throughout her presentation Annie’s enthusiasm and wish to help others shone through.

01/08/2026

When choosing a local charity to support during my year as President, I wanted to focus on organisations that work with young people in the Fareham area. They are our future, and I also recognise that many young people have limited awareness of Rotary. By supporting them, we hope not only to help these excellent organisations but also, in a small way, to demonstrate the valuable service that Rotary provides within our community.
For many years, Fareham Shopping Centre has been a tremendous supporter of the charities chosen by Fareham Rotary. Through the Wishing Well appeal and the shopping centre's own fundraising events, they have made a significant contribution to our charitable work. This year, the Wishing Well raised over £1,000, while Fareham Shopping Centre raised just under £600. Combined with funds raised by Rotary during our Christmas collections, we have been able to donate over £1,100 to each of three deserving local organisations.
The beneficiaries are:
2nd Fareham Sea Scouts, who will use the funding to refurbish one of their boats and provide new rigging.

11th Catisfield Guides, who needed new camping equipment, including a main mess tent.

10th Fareham Scouts, who will use the donation towards replacing the roof of their storage garage.

It has been a privilege to support these organisations and the young people they serve, helping to ensure they can continue providing valuable opportunities for future.

01/07/2026

On Thursday, 25th June, the club’s members and guests gathered at Lysses House Hotel to celebrate Malcolm’s year as President and welcome Bob Mussellwhite as our new leader. This is the second time as President for Bob.

26/06/2026

The speaker on Thursday 18-6-26 at the Rotary Club of Fareham lunchtime meeting at Fareham Live was future President Kat Whittaker. She gave a talk on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Kat’s presentation started with a brief history before joining Fareham Rotary. This was narrated by a younger looking “Kat avatar” speaking the words input by Kat into an AI application.
Early Years
• Born in Toronto, Canada
• Educated at Smith College MA, (PolSc)
• Worked for Government of Canada
Working days – Created her own company in 1983 and worked for a number of high-end electronics and latest technology companies and research organisations. As a provider to the DTI, Kat helped to disseminate programmes focused on next wave technologies, such as iris, face and voice recognition, gait recognition, secure technologies to counter fraud, sensor technology, used today for instance in alerting remote carers that an older person may be unwell; image processing and pattern recognition.
These technologies call for a whole new scale of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability, virtual organisations, distributed infrastructures, exploitation of vast quantities of heterogeneous data and complex visualisation and analyses techniques. The DTI’s grid computing program, part of a global initiative, began to enable the vast data generation required by emerging technologies such as AI.
During this period, Kat joined her local Rotary Club in Hungerford, Berks and became President in 2003/4.
AI Today
AI consists of computer systems that perform tasks requiring human-like intelligence. Key attributes include learning from experience, collecting and collating data, pattern recognition, language understanding, decision-making, and adaptability.
The engine that powers most modern AI systems is a process called machine learning. Unlike traditional programming where developers write explicit, step-by-step rules for a computer to follow, machine learning allows systems to learn directly from data. This learning process is what enables AI to improve its accuracy and performance over time without direct human intervention.
Today, AI is driving a surge in data centre demand. Currently there are over 500 of these centres in the UK with the latest a £4 billion project, Europe's largest, targeted for completion by 2029. The government sees this as critical national infrastructure essential to our technological advancement. However, we need to be aware that demand will consume 10% of total UK electricity demand as well as making heavy demands on water and other resources.
Some applications
AI in Medicine: medical diagnostics/imaging analysis, medical discovery (e.g. ebola vaccination), patient monitoring (e.g. electronic health records), robotics and surgery, DNA and embryology, and administrative efficiency. BUT AI should always be considered a supporting tool. It does not replace the diagnostician or researcher. Rather, it enhances and accelerates procedures to enable faster decisions and thus more focused care for patients.
AI in Education: adaptive learning, automated feedback, tutoring systems, accessibility tools, administrative support, and CoPilot/Gemini online tools for internet/Word. BUT Smartglasses from Rayban and others are available from Amazon and elsewhere from £250. In this context, you could take an image from a textbook and view it on the inside of the lens, a new take perhaps on the head up display. Most teachers can spot an AI created essay, not from AI checkers but from intuition and experience BUT AI IS GETTING SMARTER EVERY DAY. LAST YEAR IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT OVER 2000 CASES OF CHEATING AT SECONDARY SCHOOLS COULD BE ATTRIBUTED TO AI.
Apart from medicine and education, AI is being used across all business sectors. In industry and manufacturing, for example, it is helping with predictive maintenance, quality control, supply-chain optimisation, industrial robotics, and energy efficiency.
The government has recently provided funds for AI training for all UK adults, in the fundamentals through to industry-specific tools. To date, 10M people have taken advantage of this offer.
Concerns
As AI grows more sophisticated and widespread, the voices warning against the potential dangers of this technology are growing louder. Hundreds of public figures, scientists, faith leaders and policymakers have signed an open letter calling for the prohibition of superintelligent AI development. But AI companies continue to remain tight-lipped about their products. This secrecy leaves the general public unaware of possible threats and makes it difficult for lawmakers to take proactive measures ensuring AI is developed responsibly. On top of this, the US has banned the UK and all other countries from using key player Anthropic’s latest super-powerful AI models which will power the next generation of innovation. Our international competitiveness will suffer if we don’t do more NOW to encourage our own entrepreneurial spirit and enable the AI sector to flourish separately from that of the US or China.
As AI technology has become more accessible, the number of people using it for criminal activity has risen. Voice cloning has become an issue, with criminals leveraging AI-generated voices to impersonate other people and commit phone scams. YOU MAY HAVE HEARD THIS BEFORE BUT IT BEARS REPEATING. DON'T EVER REPLY "YES" IF SOMEONE PHONES AND ASKS IF YOU ARE SO AND SO....A RECORDING OF YOUR “YES” COULD BE USED IN REPLYING TO BANK IDENTITY CHECKS. Online predators can also now generate images of children, making it difficult for law enforcement to determine actual cases of child abuse. Chatbots themselves can also negatively impact child safety. In 2025, it was found that Meta AI had policies that allowed the chatbot to have romantic conversations with children.
THE QUESTION NOW IS: Will the government’s new ban on social media for under 16s help to protect them?
The BBC have issued a few pointers to recognizing AI fake images. FIRST, SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING! SECONDLY, CHECK THE SOURCE. Beware of fake accounts on social media outlets, which may have usernames that look like they belong to the real deal but CHECK the detail. Is their name spelt correctly? Do they mention that they are a parody account? Is what they are posting in line with what news outlets are reporting? AND FINALLY, KEEP AN OPEN MIND. There is literally a whole world wide web you can use to help back up the claims that you've seen on your feed. If you've seen something that looks or sounds fishy on the internet, then you should check the facts and use critical thinking.
Controlling AI
Rules and oversight are increasingly important. AI's impact depends on how it is developed, governed, and used. The “30% AI rule” is a simple guideline designed to help use AI responsibly. It means that when you're creating something —no more than about 30% of the work should come directly from AI tools.
MOST IMPORTANT, AND AS A FINAL THOUGHT, NEVER FORGET THAT AI CANNOT TRULY REPLICATE THE THINGS THAT MAKE US HUMAN, INDIVIDUAL AND AUTHENTIC!
Thanks Kat, for an enthralling if concerning talk on AI.

29/05/2026

Effect of Global warming on health in the UK By Duncan Colin Jones

With summer on the way Duncan gave a talk on the impact of Global warming on human health. He was encouraged to do so having read a recent report on this in the British Medical Journal. The World Health Organisation says that a health crisis caused by global warming is already upon us and experts on the topic say that global warming is just starting leading to the view that “the train has gone”.

Global warming is leading to heat waves, the definition of which varies depending on where you live. If you live in London, for example, 3 consecutive days over 28 degrees centigrade would constitute a heat wave, in Hampshire a heat wave is defined as 27 degrees C, and last year there were 4 such periods.

The effects of this upon us can be serious and the number of deaths attributable to heat waves is rising. The young and the oldest are particularly at risk. Heatstroke, when your body temperature rises above 39 degrees, is particularly dangerous. It leads to confusion, shortness of breath and poor coordination. Taking your temperature to help monitor this is encouraged as is sleeping in the shade and wearing pale clothes for example. Drinking plenty of water (sorry, not gin!) is crucial.

Raised temperatures also lead to more evaporation with greater risks of flooding as a consequence. Just 2 degrees increase in temperature can result in a 61% increase in flood risk. However, an increase in temperature can also lead to water shortages. So, keep bottles of drinking water available for emergencies and have a water butt to collect water for purposes such as toilet flushing.

Eating, and indeed eating well, is essential for good health. However, with 62% of our food overall being imported, and 78% of our fruit and vegetable being imported, we are at risk if global food production decreases. And there is a danger of this happening as predicted rises in temperature are likely to lead to crop failures.

A further danger arising from increased temperatures is that parasites that cause illness or disease become more commonplace. A nasty example is cryptosporidium which can be found in farm animals and with poor hygiene can be transferred to humans. It can even get into the water supply – Portsmouth Water company has already had to take action to deal with this bug in the Meon valley source of its water. There is no treatment for people but within about six weeks most get better. Potentially more harmful is the increase in Lyme disease caused by bites from ticks found on deer and rodents. This requires early treatment by antibiotics to prevent nerve damage.

Increased temperatures are also giving rise to a greater risk of diseases previously associated with warmer countries. Examples include malaria and dengue fever. The latter used to be an infection in the tropics but it has recently been occurring in Italy, southern France and Portugal, and is spreading north.

Nowadays, planning travel abroad should also include a search on line for health risks in the planned destination. Zika virus illustrates this all too well, as it used to be confined to the Amazon, but has now spread northwards into the Caribbean and southern states of the USA. It is spread by mosquitos but seldom causes severe illness, however, if a woman is pregnant, the virus can get into the foetus and it damage the growing brain catastrophically. So if a young family plans to travel to that area, check and then plan carefully.

In conclusion Duncan urged us to be aware that global warming and its impacts are close at hand. We all have responsibility to do what we can to limit this.

04/05/2026

SNUG & Ukraine Relief – Mrs Sam Dunlop
The Soberton & Newtown Ukraine Group (SNUG) was set up in March 2022, when the latest war with Ukraine broke out. It was decided to raise money for SNUG to be able to assist Ukrainian Refugees when they arrived in the UK. Money was raised through various local activities, such as Coffee Mornings, Quiz Nights, Raffles, Forest Walks and curry nights. SNUG is a cost neutral charity where no-one is paid or takes expenses so all proceeds and Donations go to help Ukrainians in some way.
Ukrainians were initially hosted in Soberton/Newtown and throughout the Meon Valley area and due to the length of the ongoing war, many Ukrainians moved on to rented properties still within the MeonValley and Wi******er. SNUG Charity assisted with providing necessary household provisions for living such as Furniture, washing machines, fridges, toasters, kettles, bedding, cutlery, Towels and all the basics required to set up a home. All these items have been donated by kind people across Hampshire, Isle of Wight and beyond. Donations are still ongoing and urgently required as the need is still there and sadly will be for some time to come.
SNUG has funds from the initial fund raising and a recent Donation from Southwick Revival, this enables us to continue helping Ukrainians and has extended to across Hampshire. SNUG has also been involved in holding fund raising events to help Orphanages and Hospitals in Ukraine with much needed medical and other supplies. Sam Dunlop also volunteers for the wonderful charity Ukraine Relief, which is based at CastlePoint shopping centre in Bournemouth. This wonderful Charity had sent to Ukraine 400+ Articulated Lorries/vans, £18 Million pounds worth of Donations, 5,240 Tonnes of Aid such as Clothing, Baby Items, Medical Supplies, Sleeping Bags, other outdoor equipment, Food, Generators and so much more. They have also sent 56 Ambulances, Fire Engines, large quantities of Hospital Beds, Oxygen Machines and lots of life saving equipment. Ukraine Relief is also focused on their current initiative of ‘Children are the Future’ as they recognise the need and importance of investing in children with their physical and emotional health. They have renovated school sports halls and assisted with Orphanages who are in desperate need to help not only babies but children and adults with learning difficulties. All year round, Ukraine Relief get donated and also prepare “Bags of Love” which contain items for Anyone and Any Age (including front line), a label with the Recipients Age/Person is placed on the Bags of Love and Ukraine Relief deliver them to Ukraine for appropriately distributing. This is very similar to the Rotary shoebox appeal. Sam Dunlop Mobile 07720 305613 can provide the Bags & Labels if anyone would like any? Ukraine Relief deliver Aid with Urgency, Integrity, Impact and No Bureaucracy https://www.ukrainerelief.org.uk/
It was great to hear from Sam Dunlop again whose hard work, drive and initiative ensures much needed aid and assistance is provided to Ukrainians here and in their home country. With so much going on internationally it is good to be reminded of the work being done to help Ukrainians at their time of need and to keep the much needed support going.

27/04/2026

Gosport Road Runners
On 2nd April we had a talk given by three members of the Gosport Road runners, Michellle, Fiona and Lisa.
Their club, an England Athletics affiliated running club, invites and encourages members of all running levels and age groups to achieve and perform to the best of their ability. It also contributes to the local community by raising monies for local charities though hosting the Gosport half-marathon. This year over £20,000 was raised in this way.
Amongst other things, the Club is now seeking to use some of the monies received for the provision of defibrillators locally. This came about following an incident last year when a member of the Club had a heart attack on a run. Fortunately, this occurred in front of Michelle, who was nurse and able to administer CPR, and in the vicinity of the Fareham Rugby Club whose members were able to bring a defibrillator from their premises to assist. All went well and the recipient of this assistance made a good recovery and is now hale and hearty. The event was, however, a shock to all the Gosport Road Runners who had witnessed it and this led to a resolve to ensure that defibrillators were more widely available.
By going onto a website giving the location of defibrillators locally some large gaps in provision were found, especially on the sea frontage in the vicinity of our Wheelhouse building. Subject to our agreement they would install and maintain at a negligible cost us a defibrillator on our building. It would remain in situ for 5 years after which we could keep it, or it would be removed.
This was a very interesting and informative talk and one that has given us much to think about.

16/04/2026

Volunteer Blood Runners
At our 26th March lunchtime meeting Steve Simmons-Jacobs, a Volunteer Blood runner and a member of the Rotary Club of RomseyTest, came to give us a talk on the above.
There are 32 Blood Runners groups nationwide supporting the NHS by taking, at no cost to the NHS, medical supplies to local hospitals. As an example of the scale of the operation nationally, in 2022 136,000 items were delivered and there were 4,343 volunteers.
The SERV Wessex Group which Steve volunteers for was formed in 2009. In this group there are 120 volunteers and they are from all walks of life. All are advanced riders or drivers belonging to IAM RoadSmart or the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and they are trained in the transport of medical products. Every three years they undergo a driving standards assessment.
The area covered by the group is Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset. If supplies have to be moved outside this area a transfer is generally arranged with a nearby sister group. The longest such run being from Salsbury to Newcastle, which took just under 6 hours and involved 5 riders. The service operates 365 days a year and the types of medical supplies transferred include blood, platelets, plasma, drugs, medical equipment and even frozen donor milk.
Most of the volunteers use their own motorbikes, though there is a limited fleet of 3 motorbikes, 2 cars and a trailer. The cost of one of their motorbikes used for this service is in the region of £16,000 plus an additional £4300 to make it suitable for ‘Blood Running’. For safety, as well as the usual range of riding gear, helmets and substantial jackets, the riders have an air vest which expands in the event of an accident. As an example of the type of mileage undertaken Steve covered 1,388 miles last year.
The SERV Wessex Blood Runners is a statutory charity awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2021. It relies upon a variety of methods to secure funding including collections, talks to the community, grant applications and online donations pages.
This was a fascinating and enlightening talk and all those engaged in Volunteer Blood Runners are to be congratulated for offering this vital service.

31/03/2026

The speaker on Thursday 19-3-26 at the Rotary Club of Fareham lunchtime meeting at Fareham Live was Melinda Hobson of Dogs for Autism.
Autism affects how individuals think, communicate and perceive the world. They have interaction challenges especially as teenagers and cannot face crowds or changes to their routine. There is a strong need for predictability to avoid high anxiety when routine changes.
The autism dogs are trained to support autistic individuals by providing comfort in potentially stressful situations. This may involve laying across the individual to apply deep pressure therapy where a dog gently applies pressure to help calm anxieties. When out and about the dog can provide a friendly nudge as a distraction. When needed, the dogs are trained to interrupt repetitive or harmful behaviours or to remove their partner to an area where the environment is less overwhelming.
The vision of Dogs for Autism is to train and provide assistance dogs, at no charge, to autistic people of any age who will significantly benefit.
Their vision is to have a positive impact on the lives of autistic people and their families, to empower them to achieve their goals, improve access to their chosen communities and to enhance their emotional and physical wellbeing.
Thanks, Melinda, for an enlightening talk that made Fareham Rotary aware of this worthwhile endeavour.

Address

Fareham Live, Osborn Road
Fareham
PO167DB

Website

https://www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=652

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