South Wales Rotarian Don Carsley receives special award at the House of Lords


Llantwit Major Rotarian Donald Carsley has received a special award at the House of Lords for his commitment to Rotary and community work.
A former detective, Mr Carsley was among 12 previously unsung Rotarian heroes who were honoured by some of Britain’s top politicians in Whitehall.
Presenting the Rotary Great Britain and Ireland (RGBI) Champions of Change Awards, was host for the evening the Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, the Rt Hon Lord Wallace of Tankerness.
He described Rotary as “a great movement” and said he had been very humbled to see the achievements of the 12 Awardees.
Nominations for the awards were in two categories — domestic and international — and invited from across RGBI’s 29 Districts, which takes in 1,800 clubs and 50,000 members.
Awardees projects ranged from improving education facilities in Kenya and Uganda and raising awareness of child slavery to organising disability sports events in Wales and peace events in Scotland and Jersey.
Another project in Ireland provides constructive training and work to prisoners while, at the same time providing bicycles to enable children in The Gambia to get to school.
RGBI President Peter King welcomed the guests, including the Awardees’ MPs, among whom were Minister for Communities the Rt Hon Eric Pickles and the Chief Minister of Jersey, Senator Ian Gorst.
The District Governors who had nominated the Awardee also attended along with representatives from other non-profit organisations.
It was also an opportunity for Rotary to showcase the talent of its national Young Musician of the Year vocalist Isabelle Atkinson who sang Rossini’s La Promessa — just one of the many Rotary projects which helps young people to develop their skills.
Donald James Carsley, Rotary Club of Llantwit Major (District 1150), was honoured for his work with the disabled, in particular in organising the Wales Special Needs Gymnastics and Team Disability Rotary Sports Championships in South Wales.
A retired senior police detective, he has a desire to transform the lives of not only the disabled, but also the families through enhancement of their self-esteem.

Photo above: South Wales Rotary District 1150 Governor Sandra Townsend, Lord Wallace, Don Carsley and RIBI President Peter King.
Picture by courtesy of Chris Wood Studios

This was the second Champions of Change award ceremony.
Abolition of child slavery and toddlers begging in the streets, local and international peace, health and education — all were topics being tackled by this year’s Champions of Change.
Rt Hon Lord Wallace of Tankerness hosted the event, and he described Rotary as “a great movement” and that was had been very humbled to see the achievements of the awardees.


The six Rotarians who received an award for their volunteer work, primarily focused on addressing humanitarian concerns within Great Britain and Ireland, were:
Margaret Lund from the Rotary club of Fleetwood
Preston Ayres from the Rotary club of Milton Keynes Grand Union
Gill Rouse from the Rotary club of Cheltenham North
Tony Allchurch from the Rotary club of Jersey
Donald Carsley from the Rotary club of Llantwit Major
Nick Lamborn from the Rotary club of Billericay Mayflower

The following six Rotarians received an award for their work internationally:
Hilary Gordon from the Rotary club of Ellon
Jean Best from the Rotary club of Kirkcudbright
Mark Little from the Rotary club of Norwich St. Edmund
Trevor Stewart from the Rotary club of Lisburn
Maureen Mwagale from the Rotary club of Reigate Hill
John Brooker from the Rotary club of Middleton

Lord Wallace commented on the Awardees: “Your initiative and imagination with ‘Service before Self’ does change lives, and those of us in Parliament who try to do things for people ties in very much with what you do.”
President Peter King described the event as a celebration of how Rotarians change lives and an opportunity to network with other non-profits, businesses and parliamentarians.

Rotary —
Rotary International was founded in 1905 in Chicago and is now the world’s largest international service organisation with 1.2 million professional men and women as members. There are 33,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographical areas.
Rotary clubs are open to men and women of all ages who are business, professional or community leaders and who want to use their experience for the benefit of others.
Rotary initiates local and global projects to promote world understanding and peace and improve life conditions for people of all ages and cultures. To find out more, visit www.rotarygbi.org

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