‘Beetle-mania’ raises cash for borough charities

Sue Furby presenting Kit Wellens with his prize donated by The Halfway House, Royton

Middleton Rotary Club held a Beetle Drive at Middleton Cricket Club in aid of Middleton Youth & Vocational Projects.

The event was very competitive at times with much of laughter and friendship very much in evidence.

A Beetle Drive is a fun way of raising funds in a very social setting and although it is centred on a dice game, it is based on chance rather than on gambling. Many players jokingly complained that the reason they couldn’t roll a winning six was that the dice were loaded but it sounded like so much sour grapes. Some of the ‘beetles’ looked as if they'd been squashed by a passing car so there were no prizes for the art work!

Coinciding with various Beatles events during the week on local BBC radio stations, the Rotary Club timed the event to capitalise on this. As well as a quiz testing knowledge of the ‘Fab Four’ there were also questions on VW Beetles and beetles of the six-legged variety.

The winner of the Beetle Drive was David Logan (Heywood Rotary Club and Friends of Springfield Park) scoring an impressive 214 points. The raffle and "Guess where the meal is?" grid raised £218.00.

Sue Furby, Chair of the Youth & Vocational Projects Committee, thanked everyone for their support, including the committee who had worked extremely hard to put on the event. She reminded everyone that many local businesses had generously contributed raffle prizes including The Halfway House, Royton; The Royal Toby, Castleton; Strike Ten, Sandbrook Park and Peel Waste, Middleton.

In the words of the old Beatles song, the organisers were pleading with competitors to ‘give me money, that’s what I want” and the guests responded magnificently by raising an overall figure of £345. This will be spent on youth projects in and around Middleton, including a Rotary Young Citizen Award.

If you can think of any worthwhile projects that would benefit from a donation, please send any nominations to middletonrotaryyvpc@yahoo.co.uk together with a short paragraph explaining your reasons for the nomination.

These projects aim to develop confidence, help young people to acquire new skills and recognise good deeds in the community. Middleton Rotary is planning a further, quiz-based, fundraising event in the New Year so keep your eyes peeled for further information.

The Beetle Drive itself was won by David Logan with an impressive 214 points – another victory for Heywood Rotary club, following their success at John Hallett’s quiz night.