DID you know that a Rotary Club in Helston (Cornwall) developed the concept of a Shelterbox and, in 2001, formed a charity to distribute Shelterboxes throughout the world to disaster areas.

Each box contains a tent and materials for 10 people to enable them to survive for six months.

The cost of each box is £490, which includes all the contents and transport.

To date, more than 500,000 boxes have been distributed throughout the world to 40 countries and, recently, 3,000 boxes and 2,000 tents have been sent to Burma and China, with more to follow.

To help this appeal, the Rotary Club of Basingstoke Deane, supported by the Rotary Clubs of Basingstoke and Basingstoke Loddon, organised a collection in Festival Place.

More than £3,000 was received from public donations. All this money will be sent to the charity along with monies from other Rotary Clubs to purchase Shelterboxes for disaster areas.

Thanks to the generosity of the public and the support of Gazette Newspapers and Festival Place, further effective help can now be given immediately to the victims of the floods and earthquakes.

For more information on Shelterboxes, e-mail info@shelterbox.org

Members of the Basingstoke Deane club were delighted to welcome two new members and, as a first for the club, they were husband and wife, namely Keith and Pat Preedy from Sherfield School. Keith is a surveyor, while Pat specialises in education, particularly the study of the development of twins.

Both said that they were delighted to be joining Rotary and looked forward to contributing to its various activities.

Plans for the next Rotary year, beginning in July, are now well advanced, and each of the local clubs will be holding a club assembly, during which it sets out the programme for the year.

If you are interested in learning more about local Rotary, check out the website - www.rotary.org - which will give details and lead you to local contacts.

2:38pm Wednesday 4th June 2008

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