23 September. An amazing evening at Banstead Downs GolfCourse, where no less than 5 Rotary Clubs had joined forces to meet me and the
DG. The clubs, Sutton, Banstead, Wallington, Carshalton and Carsahalton Beeches
are fairly close neighbours, and decided it would be more convenient to meet up
at one venue, which was certainly beneficial to the DG, as she has been saved
from making 4 additional visits.
Banstead Downs Golf Course
Determined not to be late, we allowed plenty of time to get
there in the rush hour traffic of South and West London. In the event, traffic
was lighter than we had feared, and we arrived almost an hour early, so we
drove around looking for somewhere pleasant to park up for a while before
heading to the meeting. That plan did not work well, as the area was full of
very busy roads where it was not realistic to park, or residential roads where
we would be parking outside someone’s house, which we didn’t fancy doing.
After half an hour of aimlessly driving
around we went back to the golf club, still early, but at least we could sit in
the bar and have a coffee in comfort.
The golf club bar
As we always find with Golf Clubs around London, Banstead
Downs GC was a haven of tranquillity among the bustle of the suburban
traffic. The bar wasn’t as tranquil as
we had expected, as it was rather full of men in suits having a good time. I
assumed that they must be Rotarians, and moved over to join them, when I
noticed something different about them – they were all wearing the same tie. It
transpired that they were not Rotarians at all but members of a golf society
who had been playing that day.
We weren’t in the bar long before we met up with Phil
Hewitt, president of Carshalton Rotary Club, who were hosting the event. Sparkling conversation ensued, with Phil and
the DG vying to outdo each other on the subject of their
medication regimes. Eventually we moved on from this, and it became
apparent that Phil was a very interesting man.
He told us how, as a child, he and his parents lived in Denmark. In 1940
Denmark was overrun by Nazis, and as Phil’s father was Jewish, the family
feared for their lives. After spending some time hiding, they undertook a
daring escape to Sweden, which involved Phil being thrown over barbed wire
fences by his father. From Sweden they managed to get to the UK where Phil has
lived ever since.
Phil Hewitt gets the meeting under way
After a while others joined us, including old friends Andy
Barnard, District Treasurer and Past District Governor Peter Dancy, who are
both members of Carshalton Rotary Club, and part of the District Team. As the
other four clubs arrived we moved through to the dining room. I found myself
sitting on the top table (naturally) with the DG and 5 presidents (to be
accurate it was 4 presidents and one President Elect). I learnt that both
Carshalton and Sutton Rotary clubs meet at Banstead Downs Golf Course. Not only that, they both meet on the same
night in different rooms, separated only by a partition. However only Carshalton have a plaque outside.
Dinner comprised hake
(not a fish I have knowingly had before) with new potatoes and veg, followed by
a kind of pistachio mousse. The problem with the fish was that there were bones
hidden inside, which made it difficult to eat. The woman sitting next to me
didn’t eat any of it.
Hake
The DG wanted to try something different tonight with her
talk, which unfortunately included me. The idea was that she would get the
assembled members to talk, through asking them questions. There was nothing
different in this, as she does it on every visit. What was different about it
was that she wanted everyone who answered a question to be given a prize of a ‘Light
Up Rotary’ badge. Furthermore, it was my job to deliver these badges.
'Light up Rotary'badge
I had some reservations about this plan when she gave me
just 6 badges to hand out. Surely more than 6 people will speak? The first one worked OK, when the DG picked
on a woman and asked her why she joined Rotary, and got a reasonable response.
I scuttled across the room and gave her a badge, whispering it was a prize for
speaking. She thanked me but looked utterly bemused about it. The next time the DG picked on Peter Dancy,
and so I went over to give him his badge.
However, when I got there he told me he already had one, and just to
prove it he showed me the lapel of his jacket. So I had to retreat in disarray.
The next few went a bit better, and people started to expect
me to come over after they had answered a question. However, it wasn’t long
before I ran out of badges, so I mouthed to the DG ‘have you got any more?’ to
which the reply was ‘No’. The next person to answer a question was a woman who
was asked ‘What don’t you like about Rotary?’ her response was that she liked
everything about Rotary, and there was a pause when I think she expected me to sidle over with her
badge. When I didn’t do so, she seemed to look a bit crestfallen. I apologised
to her afterwards and explained that I had run out of badges. She seemed relieved,
and said she assumed it was because her answer to the question wasn’t very
good.
The answers to the DG’s questions, as ever, were interesting,
although I sensed people were holding back a bit. This might have been because
the 5 clubs did not meet each other very often, and I thought they might open
up more if they were just with their own club. However I did learn something I
didn’t know. One man said that once upon a time retired people were not welcome
to join Rotary. What a good job that
rule was relaxed!
At the end of the evening, I managed to obtain a photo of
the DG with Phil Hewitt, Peter Kearns (President of Sutton), David Martin (President-Elect
of Banstead), Patrick Clark (president of Wallington), and Lester Kennedy
(President of Carshalton Beeches).
The DG with (l to r) Patrick Clark, David Martin, Peter Kearns, Phil Hewitt and Lester Kennedy
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