Now into April - but winter's still here

Actually today seems like it might be a little warmer than of late.  For those reading from outside the UK we've been suffering a prolonged spell of cold & dismal weather in what seems like a never-ending series of windy and perishing.  (I appreciate that for those from further afield this is nothing out of the ordinary!).

So, what's been up since last month? Well my club visit count is up to 52, just 11 to go now - still appreciating the warm welcome I receive and beginning to feel like I have a reasonably good grasp on most of the District.  Also had the great pleasure of meeting one of the speakers lined-up for our Conference next March - Naomi Riches - gold medal winner in the Mixed Sculls at the Paralympic Games - super lady - great company.

Almost two-thirds of those who will be leading their Rotary Club as Presidents attended our President-Elect Training a couple of weeks ago, braving the March snow (told you we'd had it bad!) - a terrific group of people looking forward to a fantsatic year starting July 1.

My club, Elthorne-Hillingdon, had its' annual weekend away the same weekend - to Stratford on Avon, which was pretty in the snow - we found the crocuses that RC Stratford upon Avon had planted 2 years ago for End Polio Now!

We went away for Easter to the Isle of Wight which was nice & relaxing - still b****y cold, but a nice break.

And then this weekend I've been mailing all 530+ of my fellow District Governors Elect to try & persuade them to join District 1090 in raising funds for Polio Eradication from July to October.  I'll be talkkinmg more about this over the coming months.  Amazingly good email address list I was sent - only 3 bounces out of 534 - well done Rotary International!

Even I'm shocked now!

This seems to be a recurring theme - me apologising for a lack of posts!!  Three months - absolutely shocking!!

Since last I wrote I've been away for Christmas - on a cruise including the Holy Land, which was spectacular - can't beat going away for Xmas with all the family and having someone else do all the work!  We actually spent Xmas Day in Turkey, so yes, we had Turkey in Turkey!

After we got back on 2nd Jan we had only a week before setting off for the Rotary International Assembly in San Diego.  This gathering of the entire class of District Governors for 2013-2014 for a week of inspirational talks and training from senior Rotary leaders is an unfiorgettable experience.  Mind you since we got back it feels like our feet haven't touched the ground - talks to our team of Past District Governors - a great source of advice & guidnace, the splendid team of people who will be our Diustrict support team for the coming year, helping me with the things we need to do to help our 63 local clubs serving their communities and the first of two sessions with all of the incoming Presidents of those 63 clubs (the seciond is coming up in three weeks time.  Throw into the mix a weekend away with all the other 28 incoming District Governors in Britain & Ireland, plus our annual District Conference in the weekend just gone & life is quite hectic.

Throw into the mix my continuing round of visits to clubs I haven't been to yet and you perhaps get the picture - I'm now into the last 25% - another 16 to go - looking forward to it - great reception everywhere I've been.

In darts news, our club has progressed to the next round - without throwing an arrow - our opponents scratched - (such is our reputation?) - another round looms this month so we'll see how the quarter final goes

Perhaps it's time for an early Easter resolution - write more often!  Don't forget, you can follow me on Twitter @JohnCGreening

Disgraceful - Weeks without a post!

Mea culpa yet again!  For more regular news please Follow me on Twitter @JohnCGreening!!

Since last I wrote it's been non-stop!  Over to Amsterdam in the week of 5 November for Governor-Elect Training - good session with a couple of hundred District-Governors Elect (DGEs) from around Europe.  The the following week I embarked on the first of my meetings with the Presidents -Elect, together with a weekedn get together with all the DGEs from Britain & Ireland.  Packed in another meeting the Presidents-Elect the next week, together with the last of our Rotary Foundation Future Vision seminars, darts match against Gerrards Cross "B" (we won 4-1, frankly less than convincingly!).  Then three more Presidents-Elect meetings the next week culminating in a visit to the Ruislip Beer Festival - much deserved that was! (Great now annual event organised by RC Ruislip-Northwood in conjunction with Ruislip RFC and CAMRA).  First time I've tasted 7.4% bitter - can't remember the name - now I wonder why that is?

And thus to last week - a super treat - went to see Kiss Me Kate at The Old Vic - made a nice change from a Rotary outing - great show, great fun, great cast - Go See It!!

I will try and write more often - soon this will become a New Year's Resolution.  Looking forward to Xmas and off on our cruise!

Theatre Extra!! (not exactly Rotary)

Very privileged yesterday to be at the Kings Head Theatre, Islington for the inaugural performance of my wife and fellow Rotarian Joan Greening's series of "Mistresses" (she's written & directed them).Here's what an early reviewer had to say.....

"Award winning playwright Joan Greening’s new show explores relationships between women who have achieved greatness by being a mistress for a royal or famous man and the effect it has on the people around them. 

Jean Heard, an experienced television, stage and film actress plays a prostitute who has known Nell Gwyn.  The performance is funny, touching and gives a comprehensive feel of restoration England. 

RADA-trained Julia Munrow then takes the stage as Fanny Cornforth and Elizabeth Siddal.  The rivalry between the two women for Rossetti’s love ends in tragedy. Julia Munrow shows what a versatile actress she is managing to show the heartbreak of Elizabeth and the raunchy but vulnerable Fanny.

Queen Adelaide recounts the story of Dorothy Jordan to end the first half.  Jean Heard shows the hurt that William IV caused his wife and her annoyance is both funny and pathetic.

The second half opens with the further rivalry for Rossetti’s love.  This time it is between Fanny and Jane Morris.  The steadfast Fanny changes from a mistress to a nurse and the self-seeking Jane drifts aways as Rossetti becomes a drug addict. Julia Munrow delights the audience with a mesmeric performance.

Jean Heard ends the show as Lillie Langtry.  Lillie is played with great vigour and is naughty, funny and very likeable.

The show leavers the audience delightfully entertained and more than a little moved."

The pictures accompanying this post are of the two actresses from each of the five pieces in sequence.  Personally I thought the reviewer somewhat undersells the intensity of the performances - from light and breezy to sombre and devastated.  Oh, and the writing is terrific - I could be biased - but I don't think so in this case.

The show has two more matinee performances, October 27^th and November 3^rd at 3 p.m.  Tickets available from the Kings Head Box Office 020 7478 0160

Busy week this week

Been a busy week - Monday evening I met with my conference chairman and a couple of our committee members to talk over some of the administrative aspectes we need to plan.  Although the event isn't until March 2014 there's all sorts of things we need to prepare and as they say "if you fail to plan, you'll plan to fail"!! 

Tuesday was the quarterly meeting of our Rotary District Executive - we support the 63 clubs in our patch and meet up to talk through where we need to focus our efforts.  Hot topic was the planned reorganisation of how clubs are grouped in Great Britain & Ireland.  If it all turns out the way the proposals are structured we'll see an additional 9 clubs join us in 2015.

Wednesday had me as the speaker at our Rotary club meeting on the topic of what it's like to be going through the progression to be District Governor - seemed to go well, but you'd have to ask the audience.

And on Thursday I was at one the continuing series of workshops for the changes to they way our Rotary Foundation will adminster grants - very receptive group this week.  I'm sorry to be missing the next few as I have other Rotary commitments - more of those in the coming weeks.

Friday morning - shock horror - no golf today!  A couple of times a year my Golf Club allows charities to hold fundraising Golf Days at the club, which means us regulars have a day off - Friday was Sparks day - hope that they did well.  But that meant I could go off to RC Banbury for lunch.  Terrific group of people - very liveley =- think I gave as good as I got!!  Great speaker - Alistair Welford from Leadenporch Trust who spoke movingly of their work with street children and young adults in Guatemala and building links between those children and troubled teens in Banbury - stirring stuff.

And in the evening facing heavy competition from nine other teams we battled in RC Elthorne Hillingdon's annual "Big Ed" quiz.  After a poor start we fought our way back to finish second to perennial winners RC Pinner.  However, a fun night and a good turnout supporting our club funds.

So to today, Saturday.  Momentous day - we're off to The Kings Head Theatre, Islington to see Mistresses - a two-hander featuring actresses Jean Heard and Julia Munrow tell the stories of five famous mistresses - or perhaps I should say mistresses of the famous.  Written by Rotarian Joan Greening - who happens to be my wife, doesn't that make me proud! - it's on for three consecutive Saturdays - 20th October, 27th October, 3 November at 3 pm.  Hoping to update with a review and pictures - possibly as early as tomorrow!

Looking Ahead - busy times in view

Got a number of really busy months coming up in the Rotary calendar.

Firstly our charity, The Rotary Foundation, is changing the way it administers the grants it gives for charitable purposes from July next year.  In a move designed to keep the costs of administration down (less than 9%), a lot of work & responsibility is being devolved to the 538 Districts that make up Rotary International.  That in turn is changing some of the way in which Rotary clubs have to record their funds.  All of this has to be explained to the clubs and so we're running a series of nine workshops over the next few weeks to set out the changes.  As the person who'll be in the hot seat as District Governor from next July I feel it's my duty to support our District Foundation team as they make their way round the patch with these workshops so I'm going to as many as I can.

Then early next month Joan & I will be off to Amsterdam for a three day Training Session with all the other Governors-Elect in Northern Europe, followed by which I will be running a series of meetings with all the Presidents-Elect - all 63 of them - from the clubs in our District during the latter part of November, when I also have a weekend get together with the other 28 Governors Elect from Britain & Ireland.  Oh and the team who are running my conference will be off to Torquay for a weekend to check out the conference centre and local attractions so there's some meetings ahead of that to set the scene.

Of course I'm also continuing my perambulations around the clubs in the District that I have yet to visit - that's really rewarding for me - such great groups of people - welcoming everywhere.

And then we're into December and the run up to Xmas - my club will be out with our Santa float for 6 nights - which is always great fun.  And before you know it we'll be off to Rome for our Xmas cruise.

I shall do my best to keep up with how all this pans out.

Appalling length of time since last I wrote!

Feeling in need of a New Year to make a resolution to do better with my blog posts.  Almost two months since I last updated you- humble apologies!  Have something of an excuse - we've been away on holiday for nearly three weeks.

So where were we!  Last time I wrote we'd just been to a great day at the Olympics.  Like many others when the Olympics was over we felt bereft and, not having been to the Olympic Stadium we booked up for the opening ceremony of the Paralympics.  Magnificent spectacle - and not without its Rotary connections - standing next to a Rotarian from District 1260 (Bucks & Herts) in the queue - who is a friend of another 1260 Rotarian with whom I went to school - really small world stuff.  And then the tweets from fellow DGE from 1290 (Cornwall) who was very closely located within the stadium.

In the middle of August the Team from Elthorne-Hillingdon were back at the Mencap Jubilee Pool in Hillingdon for another round of physical labour, further extending our previous path-building efforts.  Entirely not the sort of things we normally do in a our day to day lives, but very enjoyable and ultimately worthwhile.
Furthering the Rotary theme, since I last wrote I've had the pleasure of being with the Rotary clubs of Marlow, Beaconsfield, Witney, Loddon Vale, Oxford Isis, Gerrards Cross and our now annual visit to Fort Myers South while we were on holiday in Florida.

This week I've started the tour with our District Rotary Foundation team explaining all the changes that are coming to the way in which our charity administers grants to worthy causes.  The team are covering our patch at nine separate events involving a couple of hundred or so willing volunteers.  What with that and a load of other Rotary events that are coming up, I shall try (again) to be a more frequent blogger.  I do, however, continue to tweet - follow me on Twitter @JohnCGreening for more concise messages.