Wednesday 23rd July. I make my second official visit to Aldershot
Rotary Club, and it was another of those occasions when the real purpose of my
visit was kept secret from most members. Ostensibly, the DG and I had come for a second
visit simply because they are one of our favourite clubs to visit. This is
true, but the real reason was to award a Paul Harris Fellowship to Mike Tilston.
A Paul Harris Award is the highest recognition that a club Rotarian can aspire
to, and in RIBI is only awarded for outstanding service to the community. In other parts of the world it is used in recognition of a donation of $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation. I prefer the RIBI way of doing it.
Paul Harris medal
As with the one awarded to John Brewer the other week, it
was made at the instigation of Betty McClure, District Youth Chair, in
recognition of many years work with the Rotary Youth Leaders Award (RYLA). Last
Easter Sunday, The DG and I visited RYLA at Avon Tyrrell in the New Forest and
witnessed at first hand the hard work undertaken by Mike and other Rotarians,
who give up their Easter weekend every year to make the weekend a success for
the youngsters who attend.
Avon Tyrrell
So here we were, on our way once again to PottersInternational Hotel, which is where Aldershot Rotary Club hold their meetings.
The Hotel is part of the Bob Potter Leisure group, which includes the world
famous Lakeside Country Club in Camberley, home of the World Professional darts
Championship. His daughter Joanne is current mayor of Rushmoor, and we have met
her a couple of times recently at different events.
Potters International Hotel
Aldershot Rotary Club meet lunchtimes every Tuesday, so we
didn’t encounter the traffic problems we sometimes do, apart from the annoying
50mph speed limit on the entire stretch of the M3 Motorway between Thorpe and
Farnborough. The Hotel is adjacent to the Army cricket ground, and occupies a
peasant semi-rural position. On arrival we were met by President Ian Joiner and
also Betty McClure herself, who is Secretary of the Club. There was also a warm
welcome from the remarkable Geoff Clark. Geoff worked as registrar for the
District Conference for a number of years, before poor health forced him to
step down. He has had numerous operations and treatments, and has many more to come, but I have seldom
met a more cheerful and positive man. It wouldn’t be an understatement to
describe him as inspirational.
The DG chats to Geoff Clark
The first activity of the meeting, unusually, was to make a
presentation to a member of the Hotel staff. The maitred’hotel, who I only know
as Vinny, hails from South India, and for several years has ensured the Rotary
Club have a first class service at every meeting, and deals with any problems
immediately. As we all know, such a person is indispensable in a service
industry, and he is a credit to the Hotel. However, Vinny is moving on to
another job, and today was the last day he would be present at the Rotary
meeting. The club had made a collection between themselves and Ian called him
into the room to present him with a card and a sizeable cheque, as a token of
their appreciation. Vinny was obviously
surprised but accepted the gift with great dignity.
Ian Joiner with Vinny and Betty
This was Ian Joiner’s last meeting as President and he
reflected on a year that had seen the club grow in strength, with 3 new members
inducted. Today another new member was to be inducted, a man called Mike Marler
who, the DG was pleased to see, had previously been a Rotaractor. One of her
challenges in the coming year as Chair of Rotaract in RIBI is to achieve
greater numbers of Rotaractors moving into Rotary when they reach 30. Too often
they go off and are never seen again, when we should really be keeping in
contact with them. As the induction ceremony commenced there were the usual
jokes about rolling up trouser legs and bearing breasts, which I understand
belong to another organisation.
Mike Marler receives his Rotary pin from Ian
What actually took place is that somebody read out the
Objects of Rotary, someone else read out the 4-way Test, and Ian made a short
speech in which he basically pointed out that the more you put in to Rotary,
the more you get out of it. Ian brought him around and introduced him to every
member, although I suspect he knew most of them already.
The next item on the agenda was the awarding of a Paul
Harris to Mike Tilston. Now, I have
attended two such presentations in recent weeks, and on each occasion the
honour of actually awarding the PHF was stolen from me. Today it would surely
be my turn. When I saw the medal and the
certificate on the table in front of the DG, I was tempted to snatch it and not
let go until I had delivered it to the recipient, with the speech I had
prepared about developing the role of Consort to the District Governor . I
resisted the temptation on the basis that surely this time I would be given the
task.
Cricket pavilion as seen from Hotel terrace
When the moment came, and Ian Joiner announced that there
was to be another presentation today, the DG picked up the medal and
certificate and went up to the front of the room faster than a rat up a
drainpipe. She can sure move fast when she wants to. Naturally I didn’t wish to
spoil the solemnity of the occasion by contesting her right to present the
award, so I just folded my arms and glared at her whilst she did the honours.
It was amusing to watch Mike out of the corner of my eye as the DG explained
why she was here and it took a while for him to realise that it was actually
him who was getting the award. I thought he looked a bit emotional as he
received it.
The DG presents Paul Harris Award to Mike Tilston
As we left . I took the opportunity of wishing Mike Marler
well and giving him some advice that has always served me well viz. ’Don’t
volunteer for anything.’
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