Week 39 After the Lord Mayor’s Show….?

Rotary Engagements since July 1                              262

Well no, really not!! As we all know the subsequent line is “….comes the dust-cart”.  And that really isn’t the case this last week.  According to my diary I had very little in the way of engagements, but it really has been full-on with a lot of really nice emails to answer with lots of complimentary things to say about our conference so not exactly hard duty.  Also I seemed to have put off a few things in the week before as being lower priority than conference so there was a fair bit of that.  Oh, and a goodly amount of time updating the three posts for last week to keep you all informed!

Nice meeting of our club on Wednesday though – almost everyone there either had played a role in helping with the organisation of conference, or had been there, so we had lots of chat about the event – amazing how much goes on around you that you don’t see yourself.

Early start on Saturday though – off to Heathrow to wave off our Vocational Training Team on their way out to Uganda for two weeks, training midwives & nurses in basic skills to reduce infant and maternal mortality.  The hospital they’re going to serves 750,000 people and has just 2 doctors – a far cry from what we find in the NHS!  Gillian, Jacqui, Aisha &   Jide are quite literally going on a life-saving mission and we wish the well.

Seeing them off were Karen Eveleigh who has been invaluable in making things happen & organising the process, Joan (Greening) who raised a significant amount of the seed money to get the project off the ground with charity performances of her play and me, making up the numbers!  The team have set up a blog at http://rotaryd1090vtt.co.uk/ - have a look yourself and see how they’re getting on.

And then on down to Maidstone for the Region 4 final of Rotary in Britain & Ireland Young Musician of the Year.  We went with high hopes for our representatives pianist Robert Cheung and vocalist Francesca Power and were absolutely over the moon with both of them succeeding in reaching the National Final, in Truro Saturday 3^rd May – looking forward to that – well done you two!!

Sunday saw our second World Pooh Sticks Championships of this Rotary year (the event in 2013 had to be postponed from March to October).  Unlike October, the weather gods shone on us, the people flocked out to compete and spectate – the press and the radio were there, and the winners were just over the moon – young and not so young!  A great event – super show from RC Oxfprd Spires (supported by RC Wallingford, Sinodun & District, Eynsham, Bicester, Banbury, Windsor St George, Oxford Rotaract, to name but a few!).

 

Week 38 Part 3- Sunday – How about “The Hangover Part 3”? (It’s a Film)

Rotary Engagements since July 1                              254

Well – home stretch – awake at 4:00 a.m. – can we keep the standard up for the third day in a row?  Funny how when everything you planned comes off to a higher standard than you’d dared to hope it just more pressure on the next session. 

It’s traditional for us to have a service on a Sunday morning & typically based on a Church of England model.  We chose to focus on Compassion and featured hymns that had that concentration with readings to match, including those from the Hindu, Sikh, Islam and Jewish faiths.  Led by Rev Canon Graham Drake, a family friend of long standing who had been with the conference all weekend we provided a thoughtful , much appreciated and very well-attended service – all in all a great start to the morning.

Moving into the plenary sessions proper we began with our annual awards for best website (Banbury Cherwell), best bulletin (Maidenhead Bridge), best conference attendance (Langley & Iver) and new additions of best photo and best presented project from our photo competition, both of which were won by High Wycombe, who seemed very pleased to be chosen.

We then had Richie Gray, the Chairman for 1090 of our Rotaract District - Rotaract is the part of Rotary aimed specificaly at the 18-30 age group, with none of the connotations implied (well maybe a few?).  Richie's done a super job this year encouraging the existing Rotaractors to be a vibrant group, and encouraging them to spawn new clubs.  He urged all Rotary clubs to actively work in spreading the Rotaract gospel and start new Rotaract clubs in their areas  Great stuff Richie!

And so on to another star turn.  In 2009 Larry Snodgrass was taking his regular home trip from New York to Charlotte where he then lived when he was one of those who lived to tell the tale of US1549 which hit a flock of Canada Geese on take-off and was forced to land in the Hudson River.  Everyone survived but the personal story of what it really feels like to be in that position was just terrific.  I’m just so pleased that Larry & Carol were able to come to Europe for their first trip to share the experience.

RI President’s Representative Ed Futa returned to the stage and was fulsome in his praise for what our team had achieved at the conference – thank you Ed, we loved having you with us and would be pleased to welcome you back any time.

Following Ed came our President of Rotary International in Britain & Ireland Nan McCreadie.  Nan’s a first – the first lady to hold that office and I’m delighted to have had the pleasure to serve as one of her District Governors this year.  She spoke passionately about the need for us to take Rotary forward, not to be stuck in old habits, to embrace change and leave Rotary in better shape than we found it.

And finally (well not quite finally as there was a bit of a surprise for someone right at the end) came our chance for some light entertainment with a serious twist.  Past RIBI President Ray Burman can be relied on to leave the audience with a smile of their face but yet to take away a serious message about our movement, what it stands for and what it delivers.  And deliver he did.

Finally we got the conference team on stage to be recognised for what they are – probably the finest conference team 1090 has ever seen. Oh, and a little surprise for our conference chairman Jean Charmak – we were delighted to present her with a double sapphire Paul Harris award (Paul Harris founded Rotary in 1905 and the award recognises significant contribution).

And there we are, done for 2014 conference – I thought it was just outstanding, but then I would say that, wouldn’t I?  Thanks to CPS who built a superb set (to a deisgn by our own Phil & Marius) and did all the AV superbly, and thanks also to the Riviera Centre for making it all happen seamlessly around us – we were never conscious of you, but we knew you were always there for us – another great team led by Viki & Simon.

Week 38 Part 2- Saturday – has to be “Another Brick in the Wall” really!

Rotary Engagements since July 1                              254

After the excitements of Friday’s great start, could we keep it up – knew the programme was extremely strong, but just how strong would it be?

Got off to a great start with our own Lisa Morris taking us through the changes to Grants from the Rotary Foundation this year.  Clear and concise she did a fantastic job with what can be such a dry subject.  Really demonstrated how we’re using funds for the benefit of communities at home and abroad, supporting super projects selected by our clubs.

Then into what turned out to be a really emotional section of the programme. Cystic fibrosis sufferer & double lung transplant survivor Richard Burbedge took us through the story of his life and how, from an increasingly low ebb, the gift of a transplant has completely transformed his life and how he’s looking forward to his impending marriage to his fiancé Laura.  Not a dry eye in the house!

Following closely afterwards we heard from a very determined lady, Naomi Riches.  All sorts of challenges faced in her schooldays because of her partial sight until she was talent spotted for the GB rowing team.  Then the extreme disappointment of a mere Bronze medal in Beijing and her fight to get back into the boat and then go on to triumph in the 2012 London Parlympic Games.  All the sweeter that it happened at home, and for us, in our District at Dorney Lake.  Showing the re-run of the triumphant row had us all on the edge of our seats .  What a super start to Saturday!

Back after coffee we assembled the massed ranks of the club Presidents for 2013-2014 in a wonderfully disorganised "wave-past" - thanks lads & lasses for your leadership this year.  And then the District Chairman of our sister organsisation, District 9 Inner Wheel. Beryl & her team have worked wonderfully well in the 90th year of their movement and have been a real pleasure to work alongside.

Then we heard from a smashing group of dedicated health service professionals who form our Vocational Training team who leave for Uganda on 29th March to train midwives to help reduce the incidence of infant and maternal mortality.  Such a brilliant group of volunteers led by our own Gillian Pearce.

They were followed by our visiting Rotary Scholars who explained how they will use their masters degrees to further Rotary's ideals in their chosen path after study.

We then welcomed Ben Mee to speak to us.  A fantastic story published in “We Bought a Zoo” and taken to the silver screen with Matt Damon as Ben, was retold to us in such a personal, engaging, funny, tragic way.  I think we could all have listened to Ben for twice as long, but we needed to move on (not least so that we could get people off to their coach trip to visit the eponymous zoo).  At his book signing Ben proved so popular that he ran out of books (he brought 200 with him!) and had to send more back with the coach when it returned.

But before we let them off to see the animals we enjoyed the Countess of Carnarvon, I guess you could say First Lady of Downton Abbey, or rather of Highclere Castle where filming for the series takes place.  The Countess focussed on the subject of her recent book and her predecessor, Lady Catherine, who led a fascinating life early on in the 20^th century.  Again her books proved popular at lunchtime. 

So ended a pretty damn perfect morning.  Followed it with lunch with something over half of the Presidents for 2013-2014 in our District.  Really good to see all of them, they’re such a great team – but frankly I thought the hotel let us down with a very mediocre meal and very poor service – words were had will be again – the TripAdvisor review is waiting ratification!

Afternoon off for all of us was very welcome before heading back to the Riviera for our reception with Julien and Sue laying on drinks for us all before we tucked into a splendid meal –it’s not often that the food gets a thumbs up from 500 people, but the guys at the centre did us proud

We’d themed the party as Blue & Yellow – Rotary colours - some of the folks really took us up on the challenge, which you’ll see from all the photos.  The caricaturists really did their stuff and Partydown played a really tight set, pitching the selection brilliantly for the audience – crowded dance floor from the first to last number and during the band break as well!