Purple Crocuses

21 September. Today we planted 5,000 purple crocuses. So why on earth did we do that? Well, it’s all part of Rotary’s ongoing campaign to rid the world of Polio. I can remember going to school with children who were affected by Polio, which paralysed their limbs and made walking without assistance almost impossible. That’s because 50 years ago, Polio was very evident in the UK, as it was throughout the world. Most people I knew whilst growing up would have known someone, or a family that was affected by the disease. Since 1988, when Polio was still endemic in 125 countries, Rotary have been working to eradicate this terrible disease, launching the ‘End Polio Now’ campaign with tremendous success. New cases of polio have reduced by 99.9% and it is now endemic in just 3 countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

This  has been achieved through tremendous efforts to immunise all children in countries where it is endemic. This has to be done yearly, even after there have been no new cases reported in that country. Hundreds of millions of children are immunised every year with an oral vaccine, and two of my colleagues at Shepperton Aurora have attended national Immunisation days (NIDs) in India. In the sub-continent there have been no new reported instances of the virus for  2 or 3 years, but annual immunisation of millions of kids must continue whilst there is a risk of it returning. The cost of this programme is huge, running into many millions of pounds, but we have a major partner in Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who through his charitable Foundation, gives £2 for every £1 we raise. Therefore £100 raised by Rotary towards End Polio Now becomes £300.

Bill Gates

So many children are immunised every year in India alone that a way needed to be found to establish who had been inoculated and who hadn’t, or there would be a risk of treating the same child more than once. The problem was solved by painting the little finger on the left hand of each child who had been immunised purple. The dye used takes a few days to come off.  So the idea of the ‘purple pinkie’ was born. Children will still try and have a second dose, by covering their fingers with a bandage or suchlike, because recipients always get a sweet, or a toy or something to encourage them.

A child's finger is painted

In the last couple of years Rotary in Britain and Ireland has had a ‘Purple for Polio’ campaign to assist our fundraising for the immunisation programme. The purple crocus has come to symbolise the Purple for Polio campaign, as it represents the ‘purple pinkie’. RIBI’s plan is to plant 10 million purple crocuses throughout our islands this year, and we have bought 5,000 of them. Sunbury Manor School  agreed that they could be planted at the school, and have gone even further by purchasing another 5,000 themselves. Allan Cottle, Deputy Head at the school has been very supportive of our wishes to publicise the End Polio Now campaign, and offered us a stretch of grass between the school car park and the street, where we can create a swathe of purple next spring through the mass planting of crocuses.

Crocuses

Having been ordered in July, the crocuses (variety Ruby Giant) arrived from Holland in mid-September, and it was my task to collect our club’s order of two boxes from Company Moves in Fleet, the business of Kevin Mack, who generously took delivery of all the boxes ordered for our District. The e-mail said that 1.5 tons of boxes had been delivered, and hinted that a fork-lift truck may be needed to get them in and out of cars. This took me by surprise, as I didn’t think there would be a great deal of weight to our two boxes. Before leaving for Fleet, I took the precaution of emptying the car boot and folding down the rear seats, so there would be plenty of room, and I just hoped  the car’s suspension would be up to the job. It all turned out to be a false alarm. The boxes really weren’t very big, and probably weighed about 4 to 5 stones each. Kevin and I got them into the boot without any trouble, and off I went.

What a carpet of 'Ruby Giant' should look like

Now we were in possession of the crocuses, I wanted to waste no time in getting them into the ground. 5 days later, a working party comprising myself, the PDG, Ken, Chris, Peter, Lyn, Joe and Doreen came along to the school to undertake this project. The instructions said we needed to remove a square yard of turf to a depth of three inches, sprinkle 150 crocus corms evenly into the hole created, then replace the turf. Not too difficult, you may think, but we had to repeat this about 70 times. In seeking volunteers, I pointed out that we didn’t just want diggers, but counters too, as it would be an important job just to count the corms into batches of 150.

Counting corms - the PDG and Ken

We had a 30 yard stretch of grass to plant up, so we quickly got down to work, creating a rolling trench. The diggers (Chris and I, and Joe for a while)slowly worked across the grass digging out the turf, the ground underneath was raked and planted with crocuses, then filled in again. It was quite hard work at times, but we had a lot of laughs, and the time passed very quickly. The school provided us with coffee, and both Head Teacher Louise Duncan and Deputy Head Allan Cottle came out to thank us for the work we were doing. The Head’s PA, Joanne Barrett even helped with the planting. Fortunately the weather was dry and mild in the morning whilst we were working, and there was rain later on. Perfect growing conditions, I think.

Joanne helps with planting

The site we were working on was partly under the shade of an oak tree, and the grass had quite a sprinkling of acorns, many of which were buried under the turf with the crocuses. Who knows, in Spring we may not only have a superb blanket of crocuses covering the ground, but an oak tree nursery as well.

Peter pieces together the turf jigsaw

I liked the fact we were wearing our Rotary tabards and thus highly visible to passers by, although there was the occasional misunderstanding, as when two youths passed by, and I heard one say to the other ‘ I see the Rotary Club are doing Community Service.’ Actually, that is just what we were doing, although not in quite the same way that he was suggesting.

Chris and I do the digging

Our original intention was to plant all 10,000 of them, but the space given to us was only big enough for 5,000. So we gave the other 5,000 to Allan Cottle (he had paid for them after all) and he was planning to get the Interact Club involved in planting them around the school, including the Rotary garden that we created last year.

Everybody looks busy

All we need to do now is create a suitable sign to erect on the grass, so that people will understand the symbolism of the bed of crocuses. We also need to cross our fingers that the crocuses actually appear in Spring.

 Doreen tramples down the turf. Is that suitable footwear for gardening?

Hurricane Irma

18^th September.  10 days ago Hurricane Irma swept through the Caribbean and Florida, leaving a trail of destruction behind it. Many people lost their lives, and countless others lost their homes and any means of making a living. Of course hurricanes occur regularly every year, and once they pass, people pick themselves up, rebuild and start again. But Irma was a monster. About 800 miles wide, it was the size of Texas and wherever it made landfall it did so with catastrophic ferocity.  The destructive power of winds travelling at over 185 mph was only too evident on islands such as Barbuda, Anguilla, St Barts, St Maarten and both British and US Virgin Islands. In Florida, millions were advised to evacuate their homes as the storm approached, although it had thankfully lost some of its strength by the time it hit the mainland.

Hurricane Irma reaches Cuba

Our Rotary Club has a strong record of responding to natural disasters around the world. Most memorable  was the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 in the Indian Ocean. We were outside Tesco in Sunbury collecting within a couple of days, and people responded with amazing generosity, with £10 and £20 notes being placed in our buckets. I can’t remember how much we collected in one day, but it was sufficient to purchase at least 5 Shelter Boxes, which I recall cost around £300 each at the time. Shelter Boxes provide the means for a family of up to 10 to survive for several weeks, with a large tent, cooking equipment, a water purifier, blankets, torch and tool kit. I recall a similar response to the Haiti earthquake in 2010.

A Shelter Box

The key to our success in fundraising for these causes was being out collecting in a very short space of time after disaster struck, whilst it still dominated the news bulletins. People can be extraordinarily generous when such disasters are foremost in their minds, as it is a natural impulse to want to do something to help, and we were providing the means for them to do so. Tesco supermarket in Sunbury has always supported our efforts, for which we are most grateful.

Tesco at Sunbury

So it was that our club members wanted to do something to support the relief effort in the wake of Irma. Last Wednesday the speaker we had booked at our meeting was unable to attend, which gave us the opportunity to discuss what we should do, at some length. Chris Arnot, who actually has a timeshare apartment in the British Virgin islands, and therefore some understanding of the plight of the people there, led the discussion. He regularly visits the Rotary Club of Tortola and has become aware that Rotary District 7020, which covers the Caribbean, has set up a Disaster Fund to provide relief to those worst affected by the storm. We felt that on this occasion, rather than purchase Shelterboxes, our money would have more immediate effect if we simply sent  everything we collect to this fund.

The lower photo, taken post-Irma, shows all the greenery stripped from Caribbean islands

I accompanied Chris to Tesco and we met up with Customer Experience manager Conor Halliday, who is our usual contact, and he readily agreed for us to collect outside the store on Saturday, 16^th September. Karen Sutton designed a super poster to display whilst collecting, and my old friend Peter Petersens of Mailboxes etc in Weybridge printed a couple of copies for us. Tesco supplied an A-board for us to display the posters. So we were all set, and with the assistance of our colleagues at Shepperton & Sunbury Rotary, all slots were filled at the store from 10 a.m until 8 p.m. on Saturday. Ken was to come back and forth during the day to collect the contents of our buckets.

Paraquita Bay Tortola before Irma....

.....Paraquita Bay after

The PDG and I took the first slot from 10 until 11 a.m. and parked ourselves just inside the foyer. We took a while to decide the best place for the A-board to go, for maximum impact. It started inside the foyer, then was placed outside, before bringing it inside again. As the hour progressed it became apparent to me that a wheelchair was a major asset when collecting for charity. People were walking past me to put cash into the PDG’s bucket. Many didn’t even know what she was collecting for, they just saw her, in her wheelchair, and decided to give her money. I decided to hide my annoyance at being upstaged in this way, because after all money in buckets was what we were there for. I was aware that the supermarket provides wheelchairs for the use of disabled customers, and I contemplated seeing if I could get hold of one, but thought better of it. 

The PDG and me with A-board

Several people stopped for a chat, including one woman who told me she remembered me from the Christmas street collections, which her children look forward to every year. I assured her that the real Father Christmas always accompanies us, and any similarity to me was purely coincidental. The PDG meanwhile picked up a speaker for a future meeting.

Father Christmas leaves his sleigh outside Tesco at Christmas with elf driver

Now and again, somebody would question why we were collecting at all. For instance, one woman asked why British taxpayers should be collecting for the British Virgin Islands, which are full of millionaires avoiding paying their taxes in the UK. My response was that not everyone living there was a millionaire, and many people have lost everything. Furthermore, by sending donations to a Rotary disaster fund, we were ensuring that all the money raised would be used by Rotarians on the spot to give help where it was most needed.

Tesco store manager Robbie with Caroline, Norma, Ken, Ian and Eric

Collections continued throughout the day, with the PDG and I taking the final slot, from 7 to 8 p.m. I was amused to see that in an effort to gain maximum impact our A-board had by now been moved into the entrance doorway, so customers had to take evasive action to avoid crashing their trollies into it.  The day had been slower than we had hoped, although our busiest time came as 8 o’clock approached. On reflection I think our problem was about timing. We were collecting more than 7 days after the event, and news headlines had moved on from Hurricane Irma, so it wasn’t foremost in people’s minds. Over the course of the day we collected £450, but with further donations pledged by Rotary members, our final total was more like £1100, a respectable sum for our Treasurer to send off to the Disaster fund.

Janet, Caroline and Lyn, who seems to have turned into Dolly Parton for the day

Postscript: As I write this I am listening to the News. A new Hurricane, Maria, is now battering the Caribbean islands. Let’s hope it doesn’t follow the same course.

Annual Boules match 2017

Weds July 26^th. My first engagement as Immediate Past President was the annual boules match between the two local Rotary clubs, which was a particularly tense affair this year. The competition is eight years old, and each club has won it 4 times, so the pressure was on to become the leading Rotary club in the noble art of petanque, to give the sport its correct name. The war of words had begun a few weeks earlier, when a member of Shepperton & Sunbury Rotary club suggested that his club had a ‘good chance’ of winning the match. This led to a cutting riposte from a member of Shepperton Aurora, to the effect that ‘we are also hoping to win’. I felt I should step in before things got out of hand, pointing out that we didn’t want to say anything that our opponents could put up on their notice board, to give them added motivation.

The coveted boules trophy, which we won last year

The venue, as usual, was The Bell pub in Old Charlton Road. I have known this pub for many years, having walked past it for 15 years on my way to work, and having spent a few evenings drinking in there, but until we started this tournament eight years ago, I had no idea there was an extensive garden behind the pub with a boules court. It also boasts a fine view  across farmland, and you could imagine yourself to be deep in the countryside if you ignored the roar of the M3 Motorway about a quarter of a mile away.

I give a masterclass in the noble art of petanque

For the uninitiated, Petanque is a game which originated in France, and is quite simple to play. Somebody throws a small, golf-ball sized ball, called a jack and then he and his opponents try and throw heavy metal balls, called  boules as near to the jack as possible. Actually, it’s a bit like bowls, only players tend to throw the balls rather than roll them. If your boule ends up nearest to the jack you win a point. If you have two balls nearest to the jack, you get two points, and so on. Our competition was played as a series of doubles matches, with each team member getting two boules. Games were decided by the first team to 5 points. As you can imagine, they didn’t last long, which gave everyone the opportunity to play several games.

Peter 'Monsoon' McDonough takes aim

On the day of the match, the two clubs seemed fairly evenly matched at around 16 players on each side, but I was pleased to see some key personnel on our team. ‘Iron Man’ David Courtney was raring to go, as was ‘Gladiator’ Gill Fawcett and ‘Dead-Eye’ Lyn Derrington. And, of course there was me, the Crafty Consort. Looking across to the opposition, I refused to be intimidated by Geoff ‘Wolf Man’ Williams and Eric ‘Predator’ Painter as they glared balefully across the garden towards me. By the time of my first match, I was so pumped up that I virtually tore off my cardigan in my haste to let battle commence. There was then a slight delay whilst we sorted out our boules from all those available. The way you tell them apart is through different patterns appearing on different sets of boules, so each player had to ensure nobody else had the same pattern as he, or she, did.

Has anyone got a measuring stick?

The key to petanque is to own the court, and not give any quarter to your opponents. You have to be strong and aggressive, and leave everything out there at the end of the game. It also helps if you can get your boule close to the little jack.

Tension mounts as teams await their turn on court

I won my first two games, when partnered by Gill and then by Jean,  but I must have tired during the third game, as David and I were beaten by some superb boule throwing from Richard Wilson. I wasn’t too disappointed with this result, as I had won two of my three games and had therefore played a major contribution towards our team effort. Whatever happens tonight, I thought, the IPP hasn’t let his side down.

The PDG gives some tactical tips

As adjudicator Ken Howe added up the scores, refreshments in the form of sandwiches and chips came out, and previous enmity was forgotten as we all sat together to enjoy the repast. There was more than enough for everyone, and whenever plates started to look empty, more sandwiches and chips were brought out. Particular mention should be made of the chips which were quite the best I have had in a long time, having the perfect crispness, and also scalding hot. I couldn’t help wondering how they achieved this, because when you go to a fish and chip shop, the chips are seldom very hot, even when they have just come out of the fryer.

Competition is forgotten as food comes out

After a while, Ken announced the result, which was a narrow win for Aurora! Vivienne Leighton, the Mayor of Spelthorne, officially handed over the Bell Trophy to our very proud President Lyn. The trophy will remain in our crowded trophy cabinet and we will have bragging rights whenever the subject of boules is mentioned around Shepperton, which I will endeavour to do as often as I can.

Mayor Vivienne Leighton presents trophy to a proud Lyn Derrington

Goodbye Mr President (Part 2)

I know I have had some complaints, but there have been some highlights as well during my year as President of the Rotary Club of Shepperton Aurora. One of these was ‘Visioning’. On the first Saturday in March we held our long-awaited Club Visioning event. I had wanted us to do this for over a year, but to be honest I was a little worried in case it didn’t go well, and members would think it a waste of 4 hours of their time. I needn’t have worried! It was a terrific session attended by 18 of us, at which we were asked to imagine how our club would look in 5 years time, in a perfect world. All aspects of our club and its activities were discussed, and dozens of ideas were written on flip charts and hung on walls. At the end of the session we all voted on our favourite ones. I was fascinated to see the ideas which were most popular. These have formed the basis of a 5 year Action Plan, decided after much debate at Club Council, and approved by the club a few weeks later.

here's one of me. I don't have a picture of the Visioning day

Youth competitions have been particularly successful this year, with the biggest ever entry into our Young Photographer competition. The prizes were well spread between local schools, with Ashford C of E winning Junior first prize, Bishop Wand winning Intermediate, and Sunbury manor winning the Senior first prize. In Youth Speaks, both our Intermediate team from Matthew Arnold school, and our Senior team from Sunbury Manor made it through to the District Finals, but regrettably failed to progress further. It was a particular disappointment for me as I had been looking forward to attending the Regional and National finals, moving in the kind of circles appropriate for someone of my seniority.

Ashford C of E - First second and third in Junior Young Photographer

 Youth Speaks winners - one of them's taller than me!

Speaking of seniority, our own Pauline Hedges received an MBE in the New Years Honours List, and went to Buckingham Palace to receive it in April. What an amazing achievement, and how well deserved. We are all very proud of her. The award was made because of her selfless service to others over many years, and I loved the video of her meeting Prince Charles, with whom she had quite a long conversation. Although we couldn’t hear what was being said, Pauline explained afterwards that they were discussing a mutual friend! I expect my MBE will be along soon, and I already know what I will say to the Prince when we meet. I won’t go into details here, but suffice to say he will be impressed with my plans to develop the role of Rotary club President.

With Pauline Hedges MBE

As the end of March approached, the absolute highlight of my Presidential year occurred. I refer, of course, to the Charter ceremony of our Interact Club at Sunbury Manor School. Interact is basically Rotary for 12 to 18 year-olds. As Head Teacher Louise Duncan said in her opening remarks, the school is delighted by its association with Rotary, and further evidence of this can be found by reading the school’s newsletters over the past year. We had no relationship at all with the school 18 months ago, but that changed when they entered a team into our Youth Speaks competition in November 2015, and won it. They also won the competition in 2016. In between those events a lot happened.

With DG Frank West and Interact members holding Charter certificate

Firstly Louise gave a group of us a guided tour of the school early last year, and this led to the garden project which has now completed, and the provision of books for their library, and stationery supplied by Pauline. We then decided to sponsor a student on RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) this Easter, which turned into 2 students when the school offered to fund an additional one themselves. But overshadowing all of this was the forming of an Interact Club at the school, under the inspirational guidance of teacher Brikitta Batten. The group have been involved in a number of service projects already, including helping at a local Food Bank, visiting and helping at Manor Mead School for disabled children, and organising a litter pick at their own school. They have raised £1650 in three fundraisers.

Brikitta talks to Rotary Club

Their achievements to date have been way beyond my expectations, so it was a very proud moment to be at the school for the Charter ceremony, accompanied by so many of our club members. Our District Governor Frank West was on hand to present the Charter certificate (beautifully framed thanks to Ken) and also the new President’s jewel to Farrah Dutton. We heard from all the Interactors about their own experiences and watched a video of their activities to date. I must confess there was a lump in my throat as I watched the beautifully produced video.

President Farrah receives President's jewel from DG Frank

The Interact Club have attended two of our meetings during the year, at which they spoke to us about their activities this year. It was marvellous to see them speak with such confidence and enthusiasm about their work. When you consider their average age is 13 years, it was really inspirational to hear them. I attended nearly all of their meetings since September, and it was good to see President Farrah’s confidence grow as a leader during the year. When the year began, I told the Interactors they are supposed to  undertake one local service project during their first year, and one International project. I had no doubts about local activities, but I was a little doubtful about whether they would come up with an International project, so I had one or two ideas up my sleeve just in case. I needn’t have worried. They undertook a dozen local projects during their first year, and also an International Project to collect clothes for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, without any prompting  from me. 

Farrah speaks to Rotary Club

I was even invited to be a judge in a Talent Show organised by the Interact Club. I wondered why they should choose me as a judge, then realised it was probably because I reminded them of Tom Jones on The Voice. The Interactors sold 240 tickets for this event, and the hall was full as 11 acts, ranging from singing and dancing to comedy, competed for the coveted 1^st place. As I have already discovered earlier this year, judging panels are seldom easy, and this was no exception as we argued over who we should award the prizes to. In the end we reached a decision and announced the winners. Disappointment was short lived as all contestants were awarded Easter eggs, many of which had been devoured within a few minutes of being handed out. I was even given an Easter egg as a thank you for being a judge. It took me a bit longer to eat mine.

Interact Club at Rotary meeting

At the end of the Summer term, the Interact Club held a celebration of their first year in the school hall, attended by pupils, teachers and parents and families of the Interactors. It was apparent that the school, particularly the Head Teacher, have been delighted at the progress of the Interact Club, and spoke in glowing terms about the good things that have come from it. I had a chance to make a speech, at which I said how I have seen the Interact members grow as individuals during their first year, having developed skills in Team Working, Leadership, Project management and Public Speaking. Brikitta said she has been inundated with applications to join the Interact Club next year, and wonders how she will keep the numbers manageable. That must be a better problem than having no volunteers. Other local schools were invited to the celebration, as were other local Rotary Clubs. Having affected some introductions, I hope that we may see more Interact Clubs opening in the local area.

Another Interactor speaks at meeting

Another highlight for me in the last couple of weeks of my Presidency has been visiting local junior schools to present dictionaries to year 5 pupils. A big thank you to Laurie who went to a lot of trouble to ensure they arrived on time, even picking them up himself from the depot. Thanks also to Pat Burrell, who stuck labels into each dictionary before they were delivered to the schools. As I write this,  I have been to St Nicholas school with Lyn, and with Laurie to St Ignatius, and all three of us went to Saxon School. We have been giving these Usborne Illustrated Dictionaries to Year 5 pupils at our local Junior schools for many years, and as usual the they were received with great excitement from the children and appreciation from their teachers.  I am convinced that donating these beautiful dictionaries every year is one of the best things we do as a Rotary club. Many of the children will treasure that dictionary for the rest of their lives, and every time they open the front cover they will be reminded that it was given to them by their local Rotary Club.

Happy recipient of a dictionary

Saxon school pupils with dictionaries

Also in June we had a very successful day at Shepperton Fair. This year in the Rotary Village, we seemed to have resolved the manning problems of previous years, partly due to assistance from friends and family. Even I was called upon to help, to my surprise. I had only popped along for five minutes to offer a few Presidential words of encouragement to the team before heading home for a well-earned  breakfast, but before I knew it, I was connecting poles together, putting up netting and assembling the 3D puzzle which is the football game. As I’d missed my breakfast by now, I decided to stay for the rest of the day.

Taking aim at Penalty Shoot Out

There were clusters of people around the tombola and the football game all day. It is always good to see groups of boys competing against each other to demonstrate their footballing prowess.  The cars were a delight, and one owner told me it had been the best day he had ever had at such an event. One of the most popular cars was Ron’s Austin A40, which attracted a lot of attention. We think it is because most people of a certain age have either driven one or had a family member who owned one, so seeing the car at the Fair invoked many memories. At the end of the day some of us met up in Prezzo’s for our traditional post-fair meal which was very enjoyable, at times hilarious, and a great way to unwind and reflect on a busy day for us all.

I'm in charge

My year in charge came to a fitting climax with President’s Night towards the end of June. This annual event is organised by the club, usually without the President having any idea what has been arranged or where it is. Fortunately the PDG knew where to go, otherwise I would have missed it. The event was held at the London Irish training ground at Hazelwood in Sunbury, where a super new club house has been built with function rooms. As 40 of us sat down to dinner, it became apparent that somebody had got wind of the fact that I was a bird watcher, as the whole evening was bird-themed, from place names to speeches.

State of the Art - London Irish clubhouse

When I arrived, I noticed a man sitting at a table on the far side of the room who I didn’t know. When I asked around, I got the impression he was part of the entertainment for the evening. He was dressed in what I would describe as ‘country casuals’ which led me to think he must be a folk singer. In fact he had various black boxes around him, which I assumed were part of a sound system. I spent the rest of the evening worried that I would be dragged up on stage to sing a song, and was racking my brain for a folk song I might know the words to. Anyway, after dinner the mystery guest revealed himself to be a falconry expert, and his black boxes contained a dazzling array of birds of prey, including owls, falcons and even a singing (or should I say, laughing) kookaburra, which was placed upon my forearm before I had time to protest. It was a fantastic evening, and they couldn’t have found a better subject for after-dinner entertainment.

Kookaburra

So, my year as Rotary Club President came to a close. It has been very busy, much more so than I had anticipated. Before I started my Presidency, our AG Paul Hickson told me he had learnt more about management as President of his Rotary club, than in 30 years in business, and I know now what he meant. You see, unlike in the business world, Rotarians are all volunteers. They do things because they want to, so the secret is to try and create an environment whereby members want to get involved. Whether I achieved that is for others to judge. What I can say is that if I was asked              ‘ Would you do it again?’ my answer would be ‘Yes’ without any hesitation. In the meantime, I will be the Immediate Past President for the next year, which I think should carry considerable status, as an elder of the club. Time will tell.

Goodbye Mr President (Part 1)

My year as President of the Rotary Club of Shepperton Aurora has now finished. To be honest I found the year to be a constant struggle for recognition of my elevated status by other Rotarians, and the general public at large. For instance at the District Conference in Eastbourne last October I had been looking forward to the Friday night club dinner, where we were joining our friends from Shepperton & Sunbury club. I understood that before the dinner there was to be a reception in honour of the club President at the Hotel. How nice to be appreciated, I thought.

Aurora at the Conference Gala Dinner

It was only when I arrived that I was told it is the custom for the President to buy drinks for all his or her club members at the Reception.  This can be expensive for the President, particularly when we have lots of members attending, as we have had on occasion. Fortunately for me our club only had 5 attendees this weekend, so I just bought a bottle of house red and house white and that was it. As it happened, everybody else wanted white wine, so I ended up with the bottle of red to myself. I didn’t think this impaired my judgement in any way as we walked to the Restaurant later, although the PDG claimed we had walked twice the distance as everybody else.

Enjoying the Conference

I had been particularly looking forward to day 3 of the Conference, on Sunday, when there was to be the Parade of the Presidents, reinstated after being dropped the year before. At last, I would get my moment in the limelight as I strutted on to the stage being cheered to the rafters by my adoring club members. I had prepared a short speech of just a few minutes duration in which I intended thanking everybody who had come along and outline some of my plans to develop the role of Rotary Club president, more on the lines of the US president, who gets a four year term of office before they have to look for another one.

The Parade of the Presidents

However things didn’t go quite as I had expected. The Parade of Presidents was rather a hurried affair to say the least. Firstly we had to sacrifice our coffee break whilst we were corralled backstage in roughly alphabetical order. Then we were called on to the stage in groups of six, as our names were announced. A quick shake of the District Governor’s hand, a group photograph and we were led off the stage. I tried valiantly to explain my plans to the District Governor, but he was already looking over my shoulder, probably wondering how many more hands he would have to shake that morning.

I meet the District Governor

A week later we had our Rotary club walk through Roman London, guided by our own Pauline Hedges. I almost suggested that if this was really Roman London, the President would be carried in a sedan chair on the shoulders of his slaves, but looking at my companions that morning, I thought better of it. Even though I had to walk the whole route, it was fascinating strolling through parts of London that I was not entirely unfamiliar with, but saw in a very different light with Pauline’s excellent descriptions. The walk finished with lunch on the Southbank at an excellent Restaurant called the Archduke.

Parts of the Roman wall are still visible in London

Early in November, twenty of us went on a tour of Shepperton Studios. We had been waiting years for this opportunity. Even though we held our meetings at the Studios for a couple of years, we could never find a way of getting a tour of the site.

Our guide looks exasperated

However thanks to an introduction from Richard Edgar, we finally got our tour and it was fascinating. The studios site is like a mini city, with hundreds of people busily constructing film sets, filming scenes and all the other jobs that go with film making. Several times we were almost run down by delivery vans, fork lift trucks or limousines delivering important people (none of whom I recognised). At the time there were two major films being made at the Studios, a Mary Poppins remake, and a Sherlock Holmes film. We had a coffee in the Old House before leaving. I thought there would be an executive lounge for me, but it must have been closed that day.

With my Bafta

There were two big highlights in November to tell you about. The first of these was the amazing concert in Chertsey which raised over £2,700 for CAMEO, one of my President’s charities this year, and for which I am so grateful to Doreen and Tony. I was looking forward to my first rock gig as lead singer, and just hoped my backing group would be up to the task. My plan was that the supporting act, Ancient Rock would play the first half of the show, and then I would do the second half, dazzling the audience with my vocal range.

Ancient Rock

You can imagine my disappointment when I found that Ancient Rock hogged the stage until well into the second half of the show. Eventually they allowed me on stage and backed me for the first number in my set, Proud Mary. I could tell that the audience loved this and I prepared myself for my next number, which was designed to raise the tempo. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but before I could launch into my legendary rendition of Maggie May, I was being ushered off the stage, being patted on the back, despite the ecstatic audience calling for me to sing ‘Get Off’. Unfortunately it isn’t a song I am familiar with, so I couldn’t oblige. Under the circumstances I decided to leave the stage with my dignity intact, thinking I’ll have to arrange my own concert next time and dispense with the backing group.

I take centre stage

The club held another very successful Youth Speaks competition in November. Being President, of course I got to look after the Mayor and his charming wife for the evening. I stayed just outside the Council Chamber with the mayoral party until everybody was seated, then heard David, our excellent MC announce ‘Please stand for the mayor’. This was the Mayor’s cue to enter the Chamber and take his seat as everybody else looked on. I stayed outside the Chamber waiting to be announced for my ceremonial entry, but for some reason the MC forgot to announce me, so I ended up shuffling in whilst the fire exits were being pointed out. I tried my best to make it look as though that was when I was supposed to enter.

Speaker's view of the Council Chamber

The winning Intermediate team, with Mayor

December, as usual, was the busiest time of year for the Rotary Club. As members will know, it was the Christmas collections that prompted me to join Rotary in the first place. I can remember, as a child in Staines, seeing the Christmas float coming down our road, with Santa riding inside (that was in the days before Health & Safety was invented) and with carols playing. It was a magical time, which I looked forward to every year. Although I didn’t know at the time it was organised by the local Rotary Club, I subsequently learnt that up and down the country, Rotary Clubs were organising similar activities.

Our sleigh (the elf is taller than Santa)

40-odd years later, when I was thinking about putting something back into the local community, I was invited to join Shepperton Aurora Rotary. I jumped at the chance, knowing that I could be part of the Christmas magic. Seventeen years later, it is still the thing I enjoy most as a Rotarian, particularly when I get the privilege of assisting Santa. The looks of awe on children’s faces as they see Santa walking up to their house are priceless, especially when they realise he knows their names! 

Touring the streets of Shepperton

We are blessed with a good supply of Santa’s assistants among our Members and Friends, which meant I only had one outing in that role this year, for the Studios Estate area of Shepperton. It is difficult to describe the excitement that is generated by Santa’s appearance in the neighbourhood. Children come running out into the street, parents want to take photos, and teenagers want selfies with Santa (a sign of the times). Santa even had a few hugs from middle-aged women. Who said Christmas is only for children? At one point I had 6 or 7 women posing for pictures with Santa, with each one wanting a photo on her own camera. It does hold up our progress when this sort of thing happens, but it’s all part of the magic and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Counting up at the end of the evening

After the excitement of Christmas, and now into the second half of my year as President, it was time to get into another area I thoroughly enjoy, that of Youth activities. Early in January I was invited to Bishop Wand School, to be an adjudicator for an inter-house Youth Speaks competition. The event  was run on exactly the same lines as our competition. There were 8 teams in the competition, and the standard was so good, that the adjudicators, Vivienne Leighton, Debbie Lockhart and myself  had a very difficult job finding winners. We were given 15 minutes for our deliberations, but argued for so long it took 45 minutes for us to decide that the Best Speaker award should be shared between two speakers. This caused a problem for the school as they only had one medal in this category. Never again will I think the Youth speaks judges have an easy job.

Bishop's Building, Bishop Wand School, scene of the competition

It hasn’t all been work, of course. Early in January we had Norma’s cheese and wine party at the parish centre, an opportunity for members to meet their President in less formal circumstances. Members were asked to bring contributions towards the food and drink that evening. Even I was asked to bring something, which I was a bit surprised about, to be honest. After all, I was the guest of honour.  I know it’s an extreme example, but if you get invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace, you wouldn’t expect the Queen to bring a plate of vol-au-vents with her, would you? Of course I was much too dignified to complain about my treatment, and behaved as if this was quite normal, which sadly it is.

St Nicholas Parish hall

Later in the month a group of us attended the annual Burns Night Dinner organised by Shepperton & Sunbury Rotary. What a fine evening it was; I was resplendent in my Gicquel tartan tie, which a man down the pub who I bought it from, assured me was a little known Scottish clan. The room at Sunbury Arts Centre was beautifully decorated, as were all the tables. The haggis was piped in with great ceremony, followed by President Geoff Williams and his party. It was a pity that Lyn was unable to attend having booked previously, but she will be relieved to know that Mark Steptoe and I ensured her meal wasn’t wasted. Speeches were mercifully short, before the highland dancing began, with a caller making sure everyone knew what to do. I had heard that in the past there has been an award for ‘worst dancer’, so I stayed off the dance floor to ensure I didn’t suffer this ignominy.

Burns Night - how typical that I've been left out of the photo

For the last couple of years the Rotary Club has kept its’ stores of equipment in an empty office block across the road from the Bridge Hotel, where we meet. We knew our tenure would be temporary, as the block was scheduled  for demolition and re-building as flats, but we knew we would receive plenty of notice of our eviction. Well that notice came earlier this year, and we had to look around for suitable accommodation for our equipment, of which we seem to have a lot. We have 2 or 3 marquees of varying sizes which are used at the Shepperton Fair and other occasions which take up a lot of space, as do our various games like the Penalty Shoot Out, the Golf Game and Tombola. Then there is the generator for the sleigh and all the other stuff that goes with it.

So it was a bit of a headache trying to find somewhere big enough to keep all this stuff. However, before I started to worry too much, one of our members, the lovely Norma, offered us the use of her garage. Not only that, but she turfed out somebody else who had been using her garage, and paying rent for it. She wouldn’t accept a penny of rent from us. Once again I am amazed by the generosity of Rotarians. A day was fixed to move everything to Norma’s garage, and my next door neighbour Paul offered us the use of his white van to help. Most things fitted into either the van or one of our cars, but we had some problems with our Elf, who drives the sleigh at Christmas. He is over 6 feet tall (we weren’t overwhelmed with choice) and we struggled to get him in to the van, until we finally found a solution to the problem.