THE ANTON Rotary Club would like to say, on hearing the newsthe Andover and District Lions Club has been forced to close, that it is sorry to hear yet another iconic fundraising player in the community has had to close.

This is yet another voluntary group (the Andover Round Table ceased to operate a few years ago for similar reasons) that has over the years spent time and energy raising funds for local Andover charities in need of support, especially at this time when central government continues to reduce support for councils which in turn have had to cancel or reduce contributions to charities that support all sections of the community.

Many Rotary Clubs are experiencing reductions in membership in recent times but Anton Rotary remains ‘open for business’ and will be continuing to help local charities and individualsthrough its fundraising programmes.

Among projects under consideration, this year the club is hoping to hold a duck race on the Anton River at the end of May and later in the year another metal detecting weekend, both of which will help raise funds to be shared amongst other charities.

The club is investing time to develop a greater awareness of the good work all Rotary Clubs do and is engaged in a programme to attract more businesses to become ‘Friends of Rotary’ to support the club and give assistance when the club takes on a major project.

Anton invites any members of the Lions Club who would like to continue their wonderful fund-raising efforts to come and join the Anton Rotary Club. It meets every Thursday evening, for those members who can make it, at the Oak Public House in Smannell.

Apart from spending time organising fund-raising projects, the members have a good social programme going throughout the year.

The club would also like to see more women joining so if there are any women out there who can give some time to fund-raising and want to join a fun-loving, hardworking group of volunteers Please get in touch with our secretary, Herbert Wilhelmy by phoning 01264 781710 or email hf.wilhelmy@gmail.com

Barry Hawgood, President, Anton Rotary Club.