Rotary "Work"

David joined his local club - the Rotary Club of Pinner - in 2003 with a desire to "put a little back" into the community. This is a vibrant and active club with a strong fundraising, fun and friendship culture. See its website for more of what they do.

David has been increasingly involved in a number of areas but in particular in their fundraising activities helping to raise many thousands of pounds for local, national and international charities and good causes. Many of the causes have an overlap with the activities of Frustrated Communication.

In 2005 David and Pat had a Sunday lunch with friends, Jenny and Alan. At that time Alan worked in the Family Support Unit at an inner London local authority. Discussions covered how a charity like this might help those who had difficulty reading and communicating and centred on a series of very short and relatively easy to read books in the "Quick Read" series. Alan's suggestion was to help those at risk of offending through local Family Support Units. At around the same time Ed Tiley, a member of the Rotary Club of Pinner, had similar discussions with a friend in the Probationary Service. In 2007 Ed with the support of the Rotary Club of Pinner and the help of Harrow's Library Services set up a unique library in Harrow's Youth Offenders Team (YOT) unit.

Young people (aged 10 to 18) who have committed offences are referred to the YOT many of them have reading problems and relatively low "reading ages". This Library has many books covering subjects of interest to teenagers but are accessible to those with lower "reading ages". At the time this library was believed to be unique in the United Kingdom. Harrow YOT established a group of volunteers to help these young people to develop their reading skills. This Library and the efforts of the staff, volunteers and the young people are paying dividends and for several their reading skills are improving.

Since then the Rotary Club of Pinner has helped to fund a similar Library in Hillingdon.

Frustrated Communication has provided funds to Harrow Youth Inclusion Support Panel (YISP) and Hillingdon's Targeted Youth Support group to try to help young people between the ages of 6 and 17 who are at risk of offending. This support has been in the form of games to help to address anger issues and low self esteem, often caused by or related to communication issues. Again current reports indicate that these facilities are proving useful and helping the positive development and communication skills of these young people.

In 2011 David was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship for his work and dedication to the Rotary motto: "Service above Self".

David joined Rotary to put "a little back". David and Pat set up this charity to "put a little more back".