Press releases January to March 2008

Photograph: John Newsome, who helps organise the Wakefield club's junior schools chess competitions, gives a word of advice to nine-year-old Shanice Ahmed after her game has ended. Shanice was awarded the result in a tightly fought game

28th February 2008

ALEX STORY

ALTHOUGH he put politics aside for the evening, former Olympics rower Alex Story, now prospective Tory parliamentary candidate for Wakefield, still talked about the importance of being proud of Britain.
 
Alex, who stands 6ft 8ins tall and has the broad shoulders of a rower, recalled the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when the team of eight in which he was competing was just beaten by Russia in the semi-finals. He explained that pride in nation was fundamental to the British rowers' efforts
 
"We had a sense of shame at letting down our country. It took the rowers two years to get over it," he said.
 
He told members how, when he was a 12-year-old, his father had encouraged him to get involved in rowing so that he had a discipline against which he could measure himself.  At the age of 17 he qualified for the British junior team, making it to the world championships. He qualified for the senior team in 1994 and trained six hours a day in readiness for the Atlanta challenge.
 
The British eight won gold in 2000 but at that time Alex was a bystander as a result of injury.
 
A vote of thanks was proposed by Peter Slater.

31st January 2008

HEARING DOGS FOR DEAF PEOPLE

SISTERS Gill Heap and Judith Campbell, active fundraisers in Wakefield for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, spoke about the way in which the organisation's dogs are trained and the benefits they bring to those to whom they become companions.

Three in every four of the animals are rescue dogs and each can be sponsored for £5,000 by individuals or groups. At present deaf people face a waiting list of up to two years for dogs - and there is a desperate shortage of smaller breeds, said Gill.

She and Judith provided a slide show illustrating the tasks that the dogs undertake - alerting their owners to everything from the front door bell to a smoke alarm.

For more information, go to www.hearing-dogs.co.uk.

A vote of thanks was proposed by Michael Brown

3^rd January 2008

NEW YEAR'S MESSAGE

The first meeting of the year is the traditional New Year Message when partners and guests are invited to a formal dress dinner to hear a distinguished speaker.