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While it proved impossible to hold Swanage & Purbeck Rotary’s annual Summer Fête and Craft Fair this year, we went ahead with the Grand Summer Draw which has traditionally taken place at the event.

Tickets were sold up to the date that the fête would have taken place and the draw took place at precisely 3.30pm near the wishing well on Swanage seafront (pictured).

President Deirdre, accompanied by Rotarian and Former Mayor of Swanage Mike Bonfield as well as Rotarians John Babbage and Sarah Randall, drew the tickets for the many prizes that had been generously donated by local business and organisations.

We would like to publically thank the following who so generously donated prizes for the draw:

The Cabin
Candleworld
Chococo
Dorset Water Park
Friends of Swanage Pier
I Can Be (Helen Hardy)
Isle of Purbeck Golf Club
J J Moore
Serendipity
Swanage Railway
Swanage Tourist Information Centre

Many thanks from us all for making our draw so successful. £775 has been raised for good causes

Six months later than usual, largely as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, Swanage & Purbeck Rotary welcomed in their new President at a ‘hybrid’ meeting at the end of December.

Outgoing President Steve Parsons handed over the chain of office to new President Deirdre Selwyn in front of a largely Zoom audience but with a few members physically present, strictly in accordance with Government guidelines for Tier 2, which Swanage was in at the time.

The evening was not really a time for speeches but, after Steve had said a few thank yous, in a few words of introduction Deirdre mentioned some of the initial objectives for her term, highlighting the fact that the group’s activities would continue to have to operate as they had been for the last nine months until such time that the COVID vaccination programme starts to enable us to resume some of our usual activities.

Deirdre’s chosen charities for her term are Swanage Stroke Club and The Besom, and it is hoped that we will be able to raise important funds for these very worthy causes.

Also appointed during the evening was the new President Elect Chris Lefevre, who will take over from Deirdre at the end of her term.

Following the formalities those present both on Zoom and in person participated in a thought-provoking and challenging Christmas Quiz compiled by our very own Rotarian Dai Hounsell which was a fitting finale to the final gathering of 2020.

We welcome anyone interested in finding out more about Swanage & Purbeck Rotary, or who has any ideas or suggestions for our group, to contact our secretary for more information.

We were delighted to welcome one of our newest business partners to our Zoom meeting this week.

Chris LeFevre introduced Ian Futcher, who is a consultant with Quilter Financial Advisers and has many years experience in various roles in the sector.

But he spoke to us on this occasion specifically on the subject of Inheritance Tax (IHT). IHT is a minefield and so often people only encounter it when they have to i.e. on a loved one’s passing. Ian ran through the key aspects of the way that IHT works and gave us all some very useful tips on how to manage our finances to try to minimise the impact when the time comes.

There were a number of questions from those who had joined the meeting and Ian was only too happy to try and address them.

On behalf of the club Chris thanked Ian for taking time out to come and talk to us and we are all very much the wiser for hearing his sage advice.

For more information about Ian and Quilter, click here.