March 28th. I attended PETS for the new District
1145. Can I just explain that this has
nothing to do with Daisy. PETS is short for Presidents Elect Training Seminar.
Held at the same time as the inaugural District Assembly for the new District,
the venue was Forest School in Horsham, where I believe a number of
District-wide events are likely to be held in future. The new District stretches from the River
Thames in the North to Brighton in the South, and from Croydon in the east to
Aldershot in the Wild West, and Horsham was the nearest the organisers could
come to a central point. Apparently Dorking is actually the centre of the new
District, but nobody knew of a suitable venue there. Had anyone asked me, I
would have suggested Denbies Winery, which has a well-appointed Conference
centre, but I have no idea about the cost of hiring it.
Daisy
So why was I
attending PETS? Regular readers of this diary will know I am not due to be
President of my club next year.
Shepperton Aurora’s representative should have been Karen Sutton, who takes
over from Pauline Hedges as President on 1st July. Unfortunately Karen was detained in Sharm el Sheikh, on the Red Sea, being forced to go scuba diving and drink cocktails at
poolside bars, so she asked me if I, as the President-in-waiting following her,
could help out, as clearly she couldn’t be in two places at once. Realising what a difficult decision faced
her, I gallantly volunteered to go to Sharm-el Sheikh in her place. After the
unlikelihood of that ever happening was spelt out to me, I of course offered to
attend PETS in her place, and to take copious notes.
Sharm el Sheikh
The DG and Pauline Hedges took advantage of the situation by
persuading me to take them to Horsham with me as they were both attending
District Assembly. This was being held at the same time in a different part of
the school. District Assembly always occurs at around this time of year, and is
the occasion when next year’s Club
Secretaries, Treasurers and Committee chairs come to learn about their
roles, and receive up to date messages from the Rotary International
President. The DG had two reasons for
attending. Firstly, as the outgoing District Governor she had to formally
welcome delegates to the Assembly, and, later, to PETS. Then after she had done
this, she was to become a delegate in the Secretaries group, because when she steps down as District
Governor in June, she will be taking over as Secretary of Shepperton Aurora. Pauline
was attending the Health & Safety and Equality & Diversity session with
Kevin Mack. Kevin had visited our club only the previous Wednesday to talk on
this subject, so she clearly likes the subject.
The DG and Pauline
There was a snag to these arrangements. District Assembly
was due to finish at about 1 p.m. whilst PETS carried on until about 3.30. The
DG, as ever, came up with the perfect solution, whereby she and Pauline would
come home in my car at 1 p.m. whilst I would try to find a lift home amongst
the President Elects in my group. I’m sure other Consorts to District Governors
are not treated like this, but I was determined to maintain my dignity
nevertheless. So I called Ian Bowyer, president Elect of our mother club,
Shepperton & Sunbury, and asked him if I could scrounge a lift home . The
answer was no, as regrettably he would be leaving PETS early because he needed
to collect his daughter from the Airport. I considered arguing with him that
the needs of the Consort should outweigh those of his daughter, but thought
better of it, and resolved to find an alternative solution to my travel
arrangements. I was reliably informed that the president Elect of Staines Rotary
Club was going to be at PETS, who I haven’t met before. I decided I would offer
him the privilege of driving me home. I didn’t have his telephone number, but
would speak to him at the meeting in Horsham.
Forest School Horsham
Now, Club assembly was due to start at 8.45, and PETS at
9.30. As both the DG and Pauline needed to be there for 8.45 we left at an
unearthly time to go and pick Pauline up in West Byfleet and then head down the
M25 and M23. Being early on a Saturday traffic was light, and we were parked up
at the school by 8.30. We arrived in the midst of a crisis, as there was no
power coming through the wall sockets and consequently there was no hot
water for teas and coffees. At this
juncture I decided to leave my travelling companions to their dry throats and
made my way along to the Business centre on the same site, where PETS was being
held.
Hot water urn - if there is power
When I arrived there was still more than an hour to go, and
not many others were around. At least there was coffee available. By this I
mean there was a big tin of Nescafe and a kettle, and we had to make our own
drinks. There I was, Consort to the District Governor, who a few months ago was
being clapped into the most prestigious banquets, now reduced to dipping a
teabag into hot water to make a cup of tea. I even had to wash the cup up
before I could use it. Well I still have another 3 months of high office to
enjoy, but today was a reminder of what I could expect when I am forced to
stand down at the end of June.
DIY coffee
As the room filled up, I started looking for Syd Mair,
President Elect of Staines, to organise my lift home. I couldn’t locate him,
but was assured he was on the list to attend. Oh well, I expected I would catch
up with him later. It was interesting
that the majority of the people in the room were completely unknown to me. This
was because President Elects were attending from both District 1140 and the
District we are merging with, 1250. The latter is a larger District, so it is
understandable that I didn’t know many of them. Eventually Peter Dancy, the
District Training Officer, kicked things off and introduced the two outgoing
District Governors, who welcomed
delegates from their respective Districts. The DG was on first, and kept her
address very brief, congratulating everyone for reaching the office of
President of their clubs, and assuring them that they would enjoy their year.
Doug Price, District Governor of 1250 followed with a slightly longer speech,
in which he gave them some thoughts about what they could expect in the coming
year.
The DG welcomes delegates to District Assembly
Next up was Peter O’Keeffe, District Governor Elect for
District 1250, who detailed the priorities for the coming year, and brought messages from the incoming RI President Ravi Ravindran. There is always a new
theme for the year with every incoming RI President, and this year’s theme
is ‘Be a Gift To The World’. Hmm, not
sure I quite get that. Peter even gave me
a Presidential lapel pin with the new logo, which I shall pass on to Karen. After
Peter’s address we all divided into geographical groups with our respective Assistant Governor (AG). Our
AG was Paul Hickson and his was area 10, which included Shepperton Aurora,
Shepperton & Sunbury, Ashford, Staines….Wait a minute, there was no-one
here from Staines! Unbeknown to me, Syd Mair had given his
apologies and wasn't in attendance. What about my lift home? I started thinking that maybe I would have
to deploy Plan B, which was to walk down to Horsham station and go home by
train, via Clapham Junction.
Another year, another theme - This year's presidential lapel pin
Also in our group was Martin Reynolds from Walton on Thames.
If I hadn’t been so wrapped in planning how I was to get home I would have
realised that I actually used to work with his lovely wife Gill at Runnymede
Borough Council. She reminded me of this when I met up with her a few days
later. Other members of our group were Peter Hope from New Malden, Lynne Dean
from Surbiton and Tony Merrett from Chertsey.
I estimated that Tony probably lived nearest to me, and so I threw
myself at his mercy, and, nice man that he is, he offered me a lift home. So now I could relax and enjoy the rest of
the day.
The audience at PETS - can you see me?
The session in our group was useful in getting to know
President Elects within my immediate area, as everybody had a chance to
introduce themselves and give an outline of their club’s activities. Paul asked
everyone what was their major challenge next year. Predictably attracting new
members was cited as a major challenge by many in the group. Some however, had
other priorities, such as persuading members to volunteer for one of the club
officer positions. It seems that too many Rotarians are happy to support their
club’s activities, without wishing to take any responsibility.
After this session had ended, we took our seats again for a
presentation on Rotary Foundation, which is Rotary’s own Charity. We heard how
donations to Foundation from clubs were very variable, with some clubs
exceeding the recommended amount of $100 per member, and others donating nothing. However, all clubs are able to obtain grants
from Foundation to support their projects, both locally and abroad. I have some
personal experience in this regard, as I am currently putting together a Global
Grant application on behalf of Mission for Vision.
Peter O'Keeffe (left) with Peter Dancy
We then had a talk from Mukesh Malhotra and his Aussie counterpart
Susanne Rea about their joint venture ‘World’s Greatest Meal’ . This amazing
project was designed to raise funds towards the Rotary aim of ending Polio in
the world. Their idea is whenever we have a meal, however small and informal,
to look on it as a means of raising funds, which are then double-matched by the
Gates Foundation. You could simply be meeting a friend for coffee, and you
could decide to put the cost of a third coffee (say £2) towards the End Polio
Now campaign. This £2 would become £6 thanks to Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Mukesh and Susanne’s project has gone worldwide, and in 15 months, some $3
million has been raised for the Polio campaign. Susanne was carrying the End
Polio Now Flame, which resembled an Olympic torch. It has travelled all around
India, and is currently being carried around Britain and Ireland. Mukesh and
Susanne left with the biggest round of applause of the day.
The DG gets in on the act
By now it was lunchtime, for which a buffet spread had been
prepared by Peter Dancy’s wife Toni, and a young helper. Slightly ominously, Peter asked those at
the front of the queue to be sensible about what they took from the buffet, so
that there would be some left for those following behind. I agreed
wholeheartedly with this announcement, from my position at the back of the
queue. People clearly had taken Peter’s request to heart, as by the time I got
to the buffet (which was excellent), there was plenty left, in fact I was able
to go back later for seconds.
The afternoon session was taken up with short versions of
the presentations delivered to the various club officers and Committee chairs
at the District Assembly in the other building. The idea was to give President
Elects an overview of what their team had heard at Assembly, so they know what
the main points are. Accordingly I took notes during the mini presentations for
Secretaries, Community, Youth Services, International, PR and Vocation, with
the idea of briefing Karen when I see her next. One overriding message I left
with was the importance of Youth Services in Rotary Clubs, as it is our
activities in this area that present our best chances of gaining new
members. I can see the logic in this,
but I knew already that working with youngsters is fun, so I am determined that
during my year as President we will devote more time and resources to Youth
activities, with a committee dedicated to this area.
I rather enjoyed the day in Horsham. It’s always nice to mix
with like-minded people, and I was very impressed that so many people gave up a
Saturday to run the sessions for us today. All that remained was to find Tony
Merrett and get off home. Tony has had a very interesting career, which
included being an aircraft pilot in the 1950s. His description of the switch
from propeller to jet aircraft was extraordinary, because he said he almost
blacked out when he took off in a jet. As a ‘quid pro quo’ for giving me a lift
home, he extracted a promise from me to help erect Chertsey club’s marquee at
the Black Cherry fair this summer. Well, I could hardly say no, could I?
Chertsey's Black Cherry Fair
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