Week 41 Another Weekend, another Conference!!

Rotary Engagements since July 1                              279

Well, not too many photos for the beginning part of the week, but lots from the weekend.  Looking at my diary, it looks like I had a fairly easy week – so it’s odd that I spent most of the week following up on things that had already happened, making arrangements for events still to come and generally catching up &keeping up!

Monday we had our final Conference Committee 2014 meeting.  Naturally, given the way our public enjoyed the event the mood was celebratory.  Happily we managed to persuade people to come to Torquay & we were able to give people a great show of Rotary and external magic.  Well done Team!!

Wednesday at my club meeting we were treated to the experiences of Dr David Brodie, a member of RC Jordans, in visiting Nepal & being inspired to raise funds, from friends and from funding from our Rotary Foundation to provide Nepalese citizens with iodised salt to improve their health.  I was also delighted to be able to hand over cheques totalling £2465 as a first instalment of funds raised for the Hillingdon Mencap Jubilee Pool refurbishment.  Raised from our tombola at the conference, my golf event the previous Monday and other donations, it’s part of what I hope will exceed £4,000 in total.  Jean Lambert came and took the cheques – we’re told that work will start in July on the new “skin” – thanks to all who’ve contributed.

Thursday – an almost exclusively non-Rotary day! It being my birthday, (66 but who’s counting?), I signed up to play golf representing my club, Batchworth Park’s Seniors team against Hartsbourne.  Playing with 11 handicapper Derek Copeland, we were up against a 10 &17 handicap pairing.  Happily, we were never behind and held on to win 3&2, with yours truly having a brilliant 16^th (stroke index 2) to win the hole & the match with a par.  We then found that we were not alone – all six of our pairings won, completing a 6-0 whitewash – terrific stuff.  And in the evening a family dinner (minus son-in-law Alex, working in Las Vegas) was a delight – a rare evening at home and a rare treat!

On Friday Joan & I were off up to Birmingham for the RIBI (Rotary International in Great Britain & Ireland) Conference at the ICC (great venue).  We went by train which was pleasant, comfortable and quick (in both directions, no engineering work this last weekend).  Friday afternoon’s sessions were generally pretty interesting – the talk on the pictures in the Royal Collection was well presented,

Alison Wallace CEO of Shelterbox was informative and brought particular focus with survival stories from the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.  Jean Best brought a thoughtful angle on Peace in schools. 

The highlight was Peace Scholar Sharon Edington – I often wonder why we in Rotary focus heavily on Peace – Sharon justified the programme completely – a dynamic and passionate young lady with clear goals for improving her area.

Friday evening’s concert, celebrating 100 years of Rotary, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Treorchy Male Voice Choir was an absolute treat – the pieces played were undoubtedly populist – billed as the “Last Night of the Rotary Proms” it was bound to be - but it was clear that the orchestra really enjoyed playing them as much as we enjoyed listening.

Saturday morning I had the “duty” of hosting one of our speakers, ITV newscaster Charlene White, so I didn’t actually hear any of the other speakers that morning – I’m told that James Lovatt and Maj Gen Martin Rutledge were good, Lord Digby Jones was as opinionated & avuncular as ever and Martin Bell was good.  Our Annual Rotary Young Citizen, televised by BBC News included young Harvey Parry aged 8, overcoming the loss of his legs to be a potential Paralympian. 

But “my” Charlene was exceptional!  Bowel Cancer doesn’t really seem like a fun topic but Charlene took the stage by storm with her bubbly personality and personal connection.  So my “duty” turned out to be a super opportunity to meet a super lady. 

Oh, and I had the pleasure of accepting the certificate recognising the support given to Rotaract by my District 1090 – thanks to the ever enthusiastic Mike Ware & his growing band of supporting clubs!

Saturday afternoon we had the Annual Business meeting of our the Association that is RIBI – it’s our opportunity to change the way we do things – sadly very little of what the General Council for 2013-2014 (the DGs for the 29 Districts) proposed to take the organisation forward met with favour – probably the less I say about the proceedings and the outcomes the better!! 

Saturday evening’s entertainment – “The Backbeat Beatles” provided a tonic after the disappointments of the afternoon – all those songs you remember every word of from you youth (well I do anyway).

For me Sunday morning provided the real

 highlights of the weekend.  Roy Lilley – part stand-up, part serious on the subject of the NHS he made a number of points about how we need to adapt our approach as patients – his words could equally have been spoken about our Saturday afternoon!  Sarah Brown moved us with her passion for promotion of women’s education and then surprised us by bringing on stage Malala Youssefzai, the teenager from Pakistan shot by the Taliban for promoting education for Girls.  Such poise, such authority at 16 – really humbling.

Almost equally humbling was Jane Walker MBE relating her work with the Philippines Children’s Foundation.  From being a “throwaway child” to finding herself compelled to work for the children of the slums of Manila.  

Finally, suffering from “Imposter Syndrome” (being mistaken for Richard Hammond, Bear Grylls, Ben Fogle, frequently) Dallas Campbell took us on a memorable journey of some of his more bizarre exploits investigating our super-sized world.