Friday 8th May. I am invited to attend the glittering occasion of the 80th
anniversary of Carshalton Rotary Club’s Charter, and I bring the DG with
me. The event was held at Hartsfield Manor in Betchworth, a superb Country House which I have not been to before,
and a very suitable venue for such a prestigious occasion. Betchworth is
between Dorking and Reigate, and the Sat Nav took us along some rural roads I
have never been on before. It is easy to assume that Surrey is a concrete
jungle, but there is some superb open countryside which would rival many other
counties in the UK.
Hartsfield Manor
Parking near the front door to Hartsfield Manor was easy,
and we headed in to the bar, where I was able to catch up with a number of old
friends. District Treasurer Andy Barnard is a member here, as is District
Training Officer Peter Dancy and Alan Lewis, chairman of our Conference in Bristol
last October. I remember Carshalton’s President, Philip Hewitt very well from
my official club visit some months ago when we sat together. His chain of
office looks exceptionally heavy, probably because it carries metal plaques for
each President who went before him. It seems that Carshalton club will not be
celebrating very many more anniversaries in its current form, as I heard this
evening that discussions are taking place with the nearby Carshalton Beeches
club to merge the two clubs.
Dining Room at Hartsfield Manor
I offered to buy
Peter and his glamorous wife Toni a drink at the bar, and was pleasantly
surprised to learn that beers and soft drinks were not being charged,
presumably because the Rotary Club had come to an arrangement with the Hotel to
cover these costs. Emboldened by this knowledge, I offered to get drinks for
all and sundry. People must have thought me a very generous fellow indeed. I
only came unstuck when a group of people (who shall be nameless) asked for gin
and tonics, the price of which was not covered.
Gin and Tonic
Carshalton are ‘twinned’ with a Dutch club, Appeldoorn Nord, and several members of their club had come over for the weekend to join
in the celebrations. Similarly to my visit to Ewell last week, the Dutch club
had brought with them a Rotary Exchange Student, a young lady from Argentina
who had been staying with the family of one of their members. The Dutch visitors seemed quite young for
Rotarians, I would guess their average age to be under 50. Or maybe they just
seemed younger because they were pretty lively. Weekend visits between
Carshalton and Appeldoorn Noord are exchanged every year and members of the two
clubs seem to know each other very well.
Hotel Keizerskroon in Appeldoorn, where the Dutch club meet
In my own club, Shepperton Aurora we have a twin club in
Port Elizabeth West, South Africa. This came about as a result of one of our
members emigrating to South Africa and joining that club. Whilst we have
collaborated on a couple of projects, it seems unlikely that visits between the
clubs will ever take place, due to the large distances involved and
corresponding cost of flights. We would like to have a partner club on the
near-Continent, within a couple of hour’s drive from the Channel ports, and we
have gone so far as to approach clubs in Germany, Belgium and, I think, France,
but our advances so far have been turned down. We should continue to try, as I’m
sure our members would enjoy having an International aspect to their Rotary
involvement.
Port Elizabeth - we really should visit
When the time came to sit down to dinner, I found myself on
the top table, as I have come to expect, sitting directly next to President
Phil Hewitt and his wife Sabine. Also on our table were RIBI President Peter
King and his wife Di, who we will be spending the weekend with next week in
Alcester. Next to Di was the President
Elect of Carshalton, Vince Aulett and his wife Bianca. Next to them were the
president of the Appeldoorn Nord club, Dirk Speelman and his wife Yvonne.
The DG in deep discussion with Dirk
It was interesting to speak to Dirk (whose English was
superb) about Rotary in Holland. His club is a similar age to ours, about 15
years old, but has considerably more members. I think he said there were 54
members, a large proportion of whom are very active in Rotary work. Dirk
mentioned that his club is also twinned with a German club, and he pointed out
how much easier it was to visit their German twins, who are just 2 hours drive
away. Visiting their UK twins is more of an operation, with a two hour drive to
the Channel Port, followed by a ferry crossing and then a one and a half hour
drive to Carshalton. The advantage of coming here, though, is that they have a
weekend away, staying with fellow Rotarians, and get taken out to places of
interest. Tomorrow they are going for a visit to Brighton.
The DG has the floor
Phil Hewitt, as I discovered when we met some months ago, has
had a very interesting life, and he kept me entertained with stories about his
career. The last time we met he told me about his dramatic escape to Sweden
during the war, from where he eventually made it across to the UK. He got into
retail sales at a young age, and worked for some leading Department stores. On
one occasion, he was working at a Department Store at the time of the Brixton
riots, and hid in a lift suspended between two floors , whilst the store was
being looted. Eventually he joined
Barnados, the leading childrens
charity, where he was in charge of their Charity shops for many years.
Dirk Speelman speaks, watched by the DG and Phil Hewitt
I noticed that Phil was being stage managed by Sabine, who
made sure that he did the right things at the right moment, whether that was
the Loyal Toast, Introducing speakers, or welcoming VIP guests like me. After
dinner, which included undercooked lamb (It seems fashionable these days to
serve lamb pink, I blame Masterchef where it
appears to be a crime to cook anything properly) our first speaker was
RIBI president Peter King, who gave an excellent and thankfully brief speech in
his usual assured and laid back style. Next to sing for her supper was the DG,
who was eloquent and even briefer, in congratulating the club on this memorable
anniversary.
Phil is delighted to receive a banner from Peter King
Dirk Speelman, President of the Dutch club Appeldoorn-Noord
was next to speak, in fluent English. After he finished he presented a cheque
for 1,000 Euros to Carshalton Rotary club, presumably for their Charity
account. Next up to speak was Phil himself, under the watchful eye of Sabine,
and I think she must have been very satisfied with the content and delivery of
his speech. Phil introduced a special
speaker arranged for tonight, a gentleman called Mel Rees, who spoke
entertainingly about his life. A trained architect, he worked for a while in
the charity sector, where he rescued a number of charities from closure.
However following bouts of depression, he underwent therapy which he says changed
his life, and he is now an accomplished author and public speaker.
Mel Rees enjoys applause after his speech
As the evening drew to a close I found myself speaking to Di
King. We are meeting up at Alcester again next week, and we discussed how the
assembled consortium might entertain ourselves whilst the DGs are engaged in
General Council. I fancy a visit to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford on
Avon, but I think I may be in the minority. When it was time to make our farewells, the DG
drove us home as I had partaken of a couple of glasses of wine. Unfortunately
she missed a turning on the way, and as a consequence a 20 mile journey became
more like 30 miles. Not that I noticed, I was asleep.
A dazzling line up - Dirk Speelman, DG, Phil Hewitt and Peter King
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