HELPING people both home and abroad is high on the agenda for Neil Hardwick, who has been sworn in as president of Bewdley Rotary Club.

And Mr Hardwick, 55, said he wants to bring new members to the club, which has been helping good causes throughout Wyre Forest since 1988.

He said: "I think one of our main aims this year is to find some new, younger members, with the energy and ideas to take us forward."

Members plan to work with Kemp Hospice to provide a tree of light for the festive season, said Mr Hardwick, and to get digging to improve the traffic island at Blackstone on Bewdley by-pass.

The club will be encouraging young people to take advantage of the Rotary Exchange Scheme and will also oversee Bewdley Interact Club, which has nearly raised £12,000 to buy wheelchairs for disabled people in Romania. Mr Hardwick said of members international efforts: "We will be filling and sending emergency boxes to disaster areas, sponsoring the education of three children in Romania and supporting a water and sanitation scheme in India."

Mr Hardwick, who lives at Lowe Lane, has chosen Riders for Health which provides and maintains motorcycles for doctors to get to remote villages in Africa as his president's charity.

And he has also invited revellers to a garden party featuring Stourport Brass Band and the Ad Hoc Jazz Band at Cloverfield, Callow Hill, on Sunday, August 3.

All this will be run alongside the club's usual programme of fund-raising events as members gear up to try and top last year's grand total of £7,000.

"We do aim to enjoy ourselves as well," said Mr Hardwick.

For more information about the club call 07721 576150.