Friday 15th May. The time has arrived for the
DG’s last General Council meeting at RIBI Headquarters in Alcester. Along with
several other DGs and their Consorts, I am accompanying the DG to Alcester,
although I will be having leisure time whilst she is engaged in the cut and
thrust of Council debates. The General Council starts on Saturday afternoon and
finishes at about 1.30 on Sunday afternoon, but as usual we are arriving a day
early because the DG has a Friday afternoon commitment at the Kingfisher
Shopping centre in Redditch. Dedicated
shoppers such as the DG will always build in extra time to undertake some
retail therapy.
The Kingfisher Shopping Centre Redditch
On the route to Redditch we stopped on the Motorway for a
coffee at a service station, where there was a Starbucks. I queued patiently to
order my latte and cappuccino, and as soon as I had placed my order with the
young barista (I think that’s the right word for them) she asked me for my
name. Well, you’re a bit forward, I thought, after all we’ve only just met, but
I enjoyed the thought that I am still attractive to young ladies at my advanced
age. I was, however, soon brought down to earth. When I had told her my name,
in my best Leslie Phillips voice, she wrote it on the side of my takeaway cup,
and said ‘wait over there until your name is called’.
Shortly after, we arrived at Redditch. This was my second
ever visit to the fine town of Redditch, at least I presume it is a fine town,
as the only view of it I have ever had is from the multi storey car park at the
Kingfisher shopping centre. Incidentally, the car park is one of the strangest
I have been in. The disabled users parking spaces were on the 7th
floor, so we had to go up a few levels to get there. Normally in a multi-storey
car park, there is a pattern to the ramps taking you up and down between the
levels, but not here. They seemed to be
spaced quite randomly, and on one occasion I almost found myself going up a
‘Down’ ramp, which could have had unfortunate consequences.
View of Redditch from the car park
Once we had arrived and parked, the DG made a beeline for
her favourite clothes shops, and also stopped in Poundland to make a few
purchases. Shopping in Poundland is straightforward as everything costs £1, or
at least so I thought. Near the checkout I saw a Special Offer for something
which was being sold for £4. I was outraged. Is this the thin edge of the
wedge? Will it soon become Five Poundland? Looking around the shop, I was
placated, as the £4 item seemed to be a one-off. When we arrived at the
checkout with our various £1 purchases, the assistant asked if we would like a
bag to put the items in. I almost asked if she could put them in a Waitrose
bag. After all, I didn’t think it would be very appropriate for the Consort to
the District Governor to be seen carrying a Poundland bag.
After a couple of hours here, during which I re-acquainted
myself with the shop that sells CDs for 20p each (I still couldn’t find
anything I had heard of, or that I liked), we emerged with a volume of shopping
bags which dwarfed the luggage we had brought for our weekend away. It is only
a few miles from Redditch to Alcester, and we were soon checked into the Kings
Court Hotel, and sitting down to a cup of tea in the lounge. It was going to be
a busy weekend, as besides all this year’s DGs (29 of them) and many of their
Consorts, there were going to be all the DGEs (i.e. next year’s DGs) and many
of their Consorts. We met a couple of DGEs shortly after we arrived, Ray Dixon
and his wife, from District 1120 (Martin Williams’ District) and Terry Long and
his wife from District 1030 (Jean Thompson’s District). We also met RIBI
President Peter King and his lovely wife Di in the Hotel car park, and I think
I did my career prospects no harm by helping them carry their suitcases in.
Scenic - The view from our room (Renault Scenic, I mean)
There were not actually very many of us staying at the Hotel
tonight, as most were arriving tomorrow, but in the evening we met up for
dinner in the Hotel with Alistair and Margaret Marquis, who had endured a
7-hour journey from central Scotland, and Peter and Di King, who had actually
come directly from another engagement in Bradford. It was a convivial meal, and
I thought my excellent Irish stew was a
very good choice. We chatted about a wide range of Rotary subjects, including
the International Convention in Sao Paulo in June. The DG and I will not be
attending the Convention on the grounds of cost (flights to Brazil are very
expensive!) and also because we have concerns about accessibility but the other
4 confirmed that they will be going. Next year it will be in Seoul, South
Korea. Maybe we’ll go to that one.
These must be Rotarians' cars
Youth matters are always high on the agenda with Di, as she
is a great devotee of Youth Exchange, whereby youngsters from this country go
abroad to stay with families in the host country, and similarly families in the
UK host foreign students. Di is chair of the Youth Exchange committee and as
such is organising a summer camp in a month or so for 12 young people from
overseas, which is proving to be a lot of work for her. Peter, remarkably, is
managing to continue working as a judge, despite being the head of Rotary in
Britain and Ireland, although his judicial workload has needed to be reduced
for this year.
The Hotel bar
We also talked about the Youth competitions that Rotary
organises across the UK every year. Roger Mason, DG in Cumbria would not be
arriving at Alcester until Saturday night as his District was hosting the Young
Musician final. Alistair said that there was an excellent singer competing in
the final who was from his District, and he may have gone along to the final to
support her if the date hadn’t clashed with General Council. Dates for youth
competition finals and General Council are arranged at the beginning of the
year, so it should be possible to avoid them clashing.
Margaret, DG, Peter, Di, Alistair
Paying the bill for dinner was a little unusual. As everyone
wanted the cost added to their room bill, the waitress had to separate the
meals according to which room each of us was in. It was a throwback to the old
days when we would sit around a table in
a Restaurant with family or friends, trying to work out who ordered the
omelette, or who had an extra pint of beer (usually me) so that we could pay
for just what we had. In recent
years most people seem happy to simply
divide the bill equally between those at the table, provided someone hasn’t
ordered lobster thermidore or drunk half a bottle of whisky on their own. So it
seemed kind of strange to be paying individual bills tonight. It had been a
long day for us, so we didn’t stay up very late, and we were soon back to our
room and its’ king-size bed.
Lobster Thermidor
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