Formby Rotary heat up the BBQ in aid of the charity Moving Mountains

The Rotary Club of Formby recently held their annual BBQ. Rotarian Simon Matthews and his wife Gulzar hosted the event in their garden.

The weather did its best to dampen spirits but as can be seen from the picture it takes more than a bit of wind and rain to keep a good Rotarian down! Steaks, sausages and various other goodies were cooked to perfection and were eaten under the shelter of tents and gazebos.

Those who braved the elements agreed it had been a great afternoon. Gulzar and Simon were thanked for their hospitality with the presentation of a bouquet of flowers by Club President, Alan Gibson. This week the Club welcomed Chrissie Thorburn to speak to them about her experiences when volunteering in Nepal, with the charity Moving Mountains. Student Doctor, Chrissie, went to Nepal with a group of fellow students from Bristol University last summer.

Moving Mountains is a small charity working in Nepal providing very basic medical and dental care to Nepalese families who live in very rural areas a long way away from towns and cities and do not have access to these basic services.

The students live in the community with local families and become part of the community for the time they are there. Chrissie spoke of the work they had done and also of the people she had met. She had been touched by how friendly everyone was and in their generosity despite having very little in the way of necessities of life themselves! The experience had left all the volunteers humbled and grateful for the NHS despite all its problems.

The volunteers all have to raise the funds for their flights and their expenses while in Nepal. Chrissie and her fellow volunteers took part in a variety of fund raising activities at the University. She explained that the group last year were hoping to take a number of fetal Doppler units with them for use with pregnant woman. These machines are small portable ultrasound scanners and are used to monitor mums-to-be to assess the health of unborn babies and mums. The Formby Club had donated funds to buy one. Chrissie grew up in Formby and still comes back here for her college vacations with her family. She gave a fascinating talk on her experiences and it was very obvious how much she had gained from her trip. Her mum and grandma attended the meeting with Chrissie.