18th May 2016. Earlier this year, the Rotary Club of Penzance organised a lecture to celebrate the centenary of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance Expedition with the proceeds being donated to the West Penwith NCI stations.

 In 1914, Shackleton made his third trip to the Antarctic with the ship Endurance, planning to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. Early in 1915, Endurance became trapped in the ice, sinking ten months later. By then, Shackleton's crew had abandoned the ship to live on the floating ice and in April 1916, they set off in three small boats, eventually reaching Elephant Island. Taking five crewmembers, Shackleton went to find help and in a small boat the six men spent 16 days crossing 1,300 km of ocean to reach South Georgia before trekking across the island to a whaling station. The remaining men from the 'Endurance' were rescued in August 1916.

 On 5th February, the Rotary Club of Penzance held a lecture at Penwith College where Geoff Selly, the custodian of the lecture, recreated the story of the expedition using the original notes and photographs from the expedition. This lecture proved to be popular and the tickets sold out in a matter of days.

Last week, Jonathan Rothwell (Cape Cornwall) and Laurie Williams (Gwennap Head) were invited to attend a lunch at the Rotary Club to give a presentation about the role of the NCI. Jon Symons, President of the Rotary Club then presented them both with cheques for £250 raised at the Shackleton lecture. Cheques were later posted to the NCI stations at St Ives and Penzance. The West Penwith NCI stations are grateful for the generosity shown by our friends at the Rotary Club of Penzance.