RIBI Assembly 2012

My second major Consort engagement was at the RIBI assembly. Each Rotary year is preceded by a number of 'assemblies', during which training of leaders and officers is undertaken, messages from the incoming Rotary International president are passed on, and priorities for the coming year are discussed. The first of these events is the International Assembly in January each year, which is attended by incoming District Governors from all over the world, more than 500 of them. This has taken place in San Diego, California for the past few years.

RIBI (Rotary International in Britain and Ireland), then hold their own assembly in February/March which is attended by the 29 DG Elects, as well as District officers from all over the UK and Ireland. Next, usually in April or May, each DG Elect holds their own assembly in their Districts, which is attended by incoming Club presidents, and club officers (Secretary, Treasurer etc).

Finally each Rotary club in the world holds its own assembly before the end of the Rotary year, thus all Rotarians are briefed on messages from RI, and present their own plans for the coming year.

On this occasion I attended my first ever RIBI Assembly in Birmingham, obviously a very prestigious event, appropriate for a Consort to be seen at. As in my last post, I think it would be best to give my impressions of the event, as I recorded them at the time, in an article to Ship Ahoy:

Although I have been a Rotarian for over 11 years, I have always tended to take a parochial view of the organization, happy to get stuck into my own club’s activities, but not really interested in involving myself with the District Team. I suspect there are quite a few Rotarians like that.

Obviously, with my newly elevated status as Consort to the DGNN, I knew that it wouldn’t be long before my presence would be required at Regional and International events, and I was looking forward to gracing such gatherings with my presence.  Obviously it will be a great honour for ordinary Rotarians to have a Consort to the DGNN in their midst, and I take very seriously my role of bringing some much needed glamour into their lives. But not yet.

Well my plans had to be abruptly revised a few weeks ago, following a call from Janet Matthews. It seems that Neil Rorie, the District Membership Chairman, was looking for a substitute to take his place in the Membership Forum at the RIBI Assembly in Birmingham. He had asked Janet (obviously his first choice) but she was going to be in Corfu at the time. So Janet asked if I would go.

My main concern was whether the post of District Chairman outranked a Consort to the DGNN, and I was pretty sure that it didn’t, so I was about to refuse on the grounds that it would be a bit demeaning. However the DGNN herself intervened, saying that I shouldn’t concern myself with questions of seniority (or words to that effect) and so I graciously accepted the invitation.

After a four hour journey to Birmingham (yes, I know it should only be two hours, but there were petrol queues everywhere, an accident on the M40 and to cap it all I found myself travelling North on the M6 Toll when I should have been going south on the M42), we reached our destination, the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, at the NEC.

I was pleased that the RI President Elect, Sakuji Tanaka, from Japan would be present throughout the weekend, and I was sure that my chance would come to impress him with my views on developing the role of Consort to the DGNN. He came into our membership group for a while on the Saturday to speak to us via his interpreter, and we had a lively question and answer session with him. I was struck with his wisdom and his ability to give simple, thought-provoking answers to complex questions.

I was genuinely very impressed with the whole event. There were Rotarians in attendance representing every District in Britain and Ireland. The discussion groups and seminars were excellent, with high quality speakers, and a most interesting exchange of views from colleagues around the British Isles. What struck me most was how positive everybody was, and I felt that the long term future of Rotary in these islands was safe in their hands.

They also know how to party! On Saturday night delegates congregated in a large room, and different areas were taken over by the various home countries. The Welsh were in one corner, all dressed in their red rugby shirts and singing their hearts out. The Irish were across the room, all dressed in green, and offering Irish coffees to everybody. I had about three myself before I was satisfied that they had the balance between whiskey, coffee and cream just right. I then headed off to the Scottish corner, where I was plied with Single Malt by some new found friends. I had decided much earlier that I would forget about questions of rank, and was happy to hold in-depth discussions with anyone who had access to a whisky bottle. I don’t recall what the discussions were about  exactly, but suffice to say we put the (Rotary) world to rights.

The next morning, Assembly finished with a Plenary Session (I don’t know what it means, either), where I found myself momentarily standing next to RI President Elect Tanaka. At last, an opportunity to inform him of my ideas about developing the role of Consort to the DGNN, and also graciously tell him that he can feel free to spread these ideas throughout RI worldwide. I had visions of invitations to exotic places around the world to offer advice and support to Consorts to DGNNs everywhere. To be honest, I found his response  slightly disappointing. I felt that whilst he was very polite and nodded wisely at intervals, he didn’t really offer any feedback or any opinions of his own, before he was whisked away to close the proceedings. It was only later when I realised  he hadn’t had his interpreter with him, that I guessed he couldn’t find the right words to congratulate me.

On the whole I  enjoyed my involvement with the District Team, who are a remarkably friendly bunch, but I was happy to brief them afterwards (they all arrived at our house on the following Monday evening) on what I had learnt at the Membership sessions, and to pass the District Membership reins back to Neil. Next year I will be back at RIBI Assembly in my own right, as there are special sessions for Consorts to DGNs (note the single N), of which I will be one.

I do of course, now know what a plenary session is, having attended several over the last couple of years. It is basically a session which occurs just after breakfast although I think I have been to one that was just after lunch. Presumably the word derives from the French word 'plein' meaning 'full' which I usually am after meals.

Southampton 2011

The story begins in 2011, when Vivian became the District Governor Nominee Nominee (a strange title, I know - henceforth I will describe her as District Governor Nominee x2). Consequently I became Consort to the DG Nominee x2.   My first official engagement in this position came with Rotary District 1140's annual conference in Southampton in October 2011.

I thought the best way to recount my experiences that weekend would be to share the article I wrote immediately afterwards in Shepperton Aurora's magazine 'Ship Ahoy'.  Here goes...

"I was really looking forward to the Southampton Conference this year. For the first time I had an exalted position to uphold, that of Consort to the DGNN, or District Governor Nominee Nominee (Vivian, in other words).  I was very aware of the uniqueness of my position, knowing that I was probably the only Consort to the DGN who would be present at the Conference.

It was not a position I took lightly. I spent hours beforehand rehearsing a gracious wave to ordinary Rotarians, and ways to make people feel at ease in my presence without appearing condescending. I had an early opportunity to put this into practice, as the DGNN and I were accompanied by Peter and Christine Jackson on our journey to Southampton, and halfway there we met Ken, Audrey and Richard Wilson for lunch.

If they were aware of my new status, they hid it very well, and I was slightly disappointed at what can only be described as a lack of deference on their part. In fact I started wondering why it was me driving at all, shouldn’t there have been a car laid on?  Naturally I didn’t let my disappointment show as that would have been inappropriate to my rank.

In due course we arrived at the Novotel, which was of course the Conference hotel, I wouldn’t have accepted anything less in my position. A further surprise awaited at the hotel, when I found myself having to carry not only my own luggage but that of the DGNN as well, up to our suite (more like an ordinary room actually, but I suppose it was the best the hotel could do), while she went off to find the DG from Wales she had been assigned to.  Well I understood of course that I wasn’t the only VIP at the Conference, but I was beginning to wonder whether I needed to speak to our DG, Mukesh about the lack of special treatment I was experiencing.

Things started to look up at the Club dinner arranged at the nearby Holiday Inn (although once again I was expected to drive there). It really was an excellent dinner, with everybody in good spirits. The Welsh DG and his wife turned out to be very easy-going and full of bonhomie, but I suspect they hadn’t been briefed about my rank, as they treated me like everyone else. Not their fault, of course which is why at one point I stopped myself from exclaiming ‘Do you know who I am?’

          Club dinner in Southampton (Mike Parry, visiting Welsh DG and wife are on left)

At breakfast the next morning, the DGNN introduced me to several of the District team, and I started to feel at last that I was mixing with people of the right rank. I can’t remember all of them, but one was called Dan Ronalds, I think, and  another one was wearing a kilt.

As the conference got under way, I somehow failed to find the VIP area, and decided instead to grace some fellow Aurora members with my presence. I’m sure they appreciated this gesture on my part, but I did wonder what had happened to my host (all visiting VIPs get ‘hosted’ you see). I assumed that some emergency had kept him away, and the organisers were too embarrassed to tell me. Naturally I was far too gracious to make a fuss about it.

When it came to the dinner and dance on Saturday night, I was determined to finally make my presence known. I didn’t wear the usual Dinner Jacket, but thought instead I would dress in a Batik shirt I had picked up in Indonesia, which is what formal dress looks like in those parts. Now I’ll get noticed, I thought, and people will see that the Consort to the DGNN doesn’t need to bow to normal conventions of formality. Imagine my surprise, then, when I turned up at the ballroom, to find that half the attendees had had the same idea as me. It looked more like a United Nations gathering than a Rotary dinner. As for Mukesh, he was wearing his fifth exotic outfit of the day. Talk about being upstaged! Only later did I discover that the theme for the evening was 'International'.

                               DG Mukesh in one of his  many costumes

After the dance had finished, I spent a couple of hours in the bar explaining to Nigel and Mary how I wanted to develop the role of Consort to the DGNN. Obviously they had had a long day and reluctantly needed to get to bed, so I promised I would continue outlining my plans in the morning, over breakfast.

By Sunday morning I was really starting to enjoy the Conference. Once again I met many of the District team at breakfast, some more cheery than others (they would never survive at a breakfast meeting club, I thought). Although I hung around RIBI President Ray Burman’s table for a while, I didn’t get introduced, although he did ask me at one point if I could refill his coffee.  Strangely Nigel and Mary were nowhere to be seen.

There can be little doubt that Shepperton Aurora created the biggest noise for our President, Douglas at the parade of presidents. I did check the programme to see if there would be a parade of Consorts to the DGNN, but I suppose it would have been a short procession.

                                Shepperton Aurora Rotary (and a couple of friends)

In conclusion I should say that despite the grievances mentioned above, it really was a great conference, possibly the most enjoyable I have been to. Some of the speakers were superb, and we have booked one of them for our prestige lecture in March. The DGNN has already booked us for Bristol in 2012. Let’s hope I get the treatment I deserve there."

Well, that was my first outing as a Consort, and although I didn't feel I received the acclaim that I deserved, I felt sure in coming months and years, I could ensure that this would improve.