Saturday April 8th. We were out of the Hotel early this morning,
as the Conference was to be under way at 9.00. Of course we didn’t have to go
if we didn’t want to, but as we had come so far, it seemed daft not to get
involved. Actually, the PDG was less interested than me in attending the
plenary sessions in the main hall. She spent much of this morning in the
Community Showcase, which is where exhibitors set up stalls to promote their
particular activity. As usual, she was drawn to the Guide Dogs stall, which had
a couple of working guide dogs and a puppy in training with them. If I ever
needed to find her that morning, I just had to head for the Guide Dogs stand.
There were plenty of other stands, over 70 of them, and over
the course of the weekend I found time to wander among them, catching up with
some I knew already, and getting to know others. For instance, Jane Walker from
the Purple Community Fund (formerly called the Philippine Community Fund) had a
stall, still selling bags, handbags and wallets made from the ring pulls from
drinks cans. Between us, the PDG and I must have an example of everything they
make. AW Matthews, from whom I bought Interact lapel pins last year were there
again, selling badges and pins of all shapes and sizes. It would be easy to
spend most of the morning in the Showcase, but to be honest my priority was to
attend the plenary session, so I took my seat just as Eve Conway got things
started.
Jane Walker - Purple Community Fund
The highlight of the first session of the morning was the
presentation of the Rotary Young Citizen Awards, which were being filmed live
on BBC. This meant that the auditorium was in ‘lockdown’ for an hour or two, as
the BBC couldn’t have background noises of doors slamming, and noise from
outside disrupting the recording. I was glad I had gone to the loo before
taking my seat.
Eve Conway with this year's Young Citizen Award winners
The awards were co-hosted by Ellie Crissell, who does it
every year, and Konnie Huq who was new to it. Of course the real stars of the
show were the young people, who had been nominated by Rotary Clubs throughout
Britain and Ireland for doing something extraordinary, whether that is
community service, overcoming adversity, or otherwise gone out of their way to
help others. As this year is the tenth anniversary of the Young Citizen Awards,
winners from each previous year were also in attendance to tell us what they
have been doing since winning their award. One of them, Grace O’Malley is now
an accomplished opera singer, who was to sing at the Concert tonight.
Grace O'Malley
The rest of the morning was taken up by two outstanding
presentations. The first of these was from the Born Free Foundation. The
Foundation was started by the actress Virginia McKenna, who starred in the film
‘Born Free’, and her son Will Travers. The Foundation aims to stop individual
wild animals from suffering and also protect threatened species worldwide. A
tall order you might imagine, but as we heard there have been a number of
successes including the rescue of elephants, tigers, lions and dolphins. It was
great to hear Virginia McKenna talking about the dangers encountered when
filming Born Free, and how as a result she resolved to do something to try and
help the magnificent wildlife of Africa and elsewhere in the world.
Virginia filming Born Free with Elsa the lion cub
They were followed by the final, and probably my favourite
speaker of the day, Ade Adepitan, a British basketball Paralympian and TV
presenter of Paralympic sport. He is very charismatic, and had a lot of funny
stories to tell us about the difficulties of growing up in the East End of
London whilst crippled by Polio. Sport was the way out for him, as he
discovered basketball and through hard work and dedication made it to the GB
team, with whom he won a bronze medal in the Athens Paralympics. A regular TV
presenter now, he pops up in many programmes, including BBC’s One Show and
various documentaries. He co-hosted Children in Need last November with Graham
Norton. Ade is also an ambassador for Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign, by which
we are determined to eradicate Polio all over the world. At the end of the
session I found the PDG hanging out with the Guide Dogs and told her about
Ade’s talk, and how she should have been there to listen to him. She said she had met him earlier and had a
nice chat with him in the Community Showcase over a cup of tea, where she told
him he has been an inspiration to her. How about that for being in the right
place at the right time?
Ade Adepitan
It was now lunch time and there were no more plenary
sessions today, but there were a variety of options open to Conference-goers.
For instance we could attend the RIBI Annual Business Meeting. Well we’ve done
that twice before and both decided ‘never again’. Alternatively there were
various general interest sessions we could attend, such as Eric Knowles doing
antiques valuations, or comedian James Allen. There was even a session on Guide
Dogs for the Blind, but as the PDG had already spent most of the weekend with
them, she decided she would go shopping instead. We had already done a trial
run yesterday, and she was comfortable about using her electric chair to get on
and off the trams, so I was free for the rest of the day.
Eric Knowles is a Rotarian
I had a ticket to watch Manchester City play Hull City at
The Etihad Stadium that afternoon. However there was somewhere I wanted to go
first. Having heard that Manchester Art Gallery had a good collection of LS
Lowry’s paintings, I wanted to see them at first hand. Born in Manchester, he
became famous for his paintings of matchstick men. With literally only about 10
minutes to spare, I dashed into the Gallery (entrance free) quickly located the
Lowry room, and had a good look at the paintings on display. To my surprise,
the canvases were not very big. I had expected great big pictures full of
detail, but they were actually quite small. Still, it was good to study them
close up and see how clever he was at injecting character and humour into his
subjects.
Lowry painting
My whistlestop tour now over, it was back to St Peter’s
Square to catch a tram to The Etihad. II had no difficulty identifying which
one I wanted, it was full of people wearing Man City shirts. It was a bit of a
tight squeeze when I got on, but that was nothing. There were about six more
stops before we got to the ground, and more people managed to get on board at
each stop. I ended up being pressed so tightly on all sides that I couldn’t
move in any direction. Looking on the bright side, at least I wasn’t going to
fall over. It was noticeable how good-humoured everyone was. There were Hull
City fans mingling with Man City fans and I never saw a hint of any
unpleasantness. What a refreshing change from the tribalism I used to encounter
when I went regularly to football in the 70’s. I suppose it could also have
something to do with the fact that a team at the top of the table was playing a
team at the bottom, so the result wasn’t really in doubt.
Inside the stadium
When I got to the Etihad I had a few minutes to soak up the
atmosphere before going in. There was a stage set up and the compere was
interviewing somebody I didn’t recognise (probably a past player) and I had to
shoulder my way through the crowd watching them to get to the food outlets.
When I visit football grounds these days (not often, maybe once a year) I like
to check out their meat pies, which are a staple at most grounds, I think.
However, Manchester City fans are obviously more discerning, as I couldn’t find
a meat pie anywhere, so with time running out before kick off, I opted for a
giant sausage in a small roll, with onions and mustard. I was trying to eat it
quickly, with a beer in my other hand, and I’m afraid most of the onions and
mustard ended up on my shirt. This didn’t bother me as much as it might
otherwise have done, because I wasn’t expecting to meet anybody I knew.
Proof I was there
Today happened to be Grand National Day, and I always like
to have a bet on the race. As I didn’t have time to find a betting shop earlier
on today, I decided to do so at one of the betting kiosks at the ground. I’ve
given up trying to work out the best horse in the race, my plan is to select
one who is priced at around 12/1. Favourites rarely win the National, but at
that price you normally get a half-decent horse. So I found a kiosk, paid my
tenner, and got a receipt. It was only later, as I checked my ticket at half
time, that I discovered the kiosk would not be open after the match today, and
I would have to come back at the next home game to collect my winnings, if any.
Failing that I could visit any one of several betting shops to claim my
winnings. These were all in Manchester, by the way.
The Grand National
I took my seat in the East Stand just before the teams
appeared on the field, and realised I had made a big mistake. When I chose my
seat online a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to ensure I didn’t have the sun in
my eyes, so on the basis that the sun sets in the West, I selected a seat in
the East stand. Doh! I should have
chosen the Colin Bell Stand which is opposite, as the setting sun would be
behind me. I spent the whole match trying to shield my eyes from the sun’s
glare, on probably the brightest day of the year so far. Funnily enough, I made
the same mistake a year ago, when I went to see Ross County. Some people never
learn, do they?
The Colin bell Stand - the one I should have been in
Despite all the above, I thoroughly enjoyed the match. Some
of the best players in the world were on display, and it was a pleasure to see
them at close quarters. It’s one thing watching the likes of Sergio Aguero,
Yaya Toure and Raheem Sterling on
television, but when you see them live, you get a better impression of their
skill and technique. I was sitting level with the penalty box, so had a good
look at offside decisions. I was also able to observe John Stones, England’s
best central defender going about his work. Having played in that position
myself during my playing days, I could appreciate just how good he is. I don’t
think I saw him put a foot wrong the whole match. The only slight
disappointment for me was that my favourite City player, Kevin De Bruyne,
wasn’t playing today.
John Stones
Hull City put up a spirited resistance, but didn’t really
threaten Man City’s goal very much, and Man City ran out comfortable winners at
3:0. Although they didn’t win the League this year, Man City finished
comfortably in the top 4, thus qualifying for the European Champions League
next season. Sadly Hull City were relegated at the end of the season. On the
way out I learnt the result of the Grand National. My horse came nowhere.
Aguero scores second goal
Earlier, when I arrived on the tram, I had noticed that we
had to cross a bridge over the Rochdale Canal to get to the Etihad stadium.
Knowing that this canal passed very close to my Hotel, I decided to follow it
back into the City Centre. It was only a mile or so, and quite a pleasant walk
along the towpath. The canal looked derelict in places and was full of rubbish,
but as I got closer to the City Centre it became noticeably smarter, with
fashionable restaurants and bars along the path. It was whilst walking past one
of these, trying to look nonchalant, that I tripped and almost fell into the
canal, much to the amusement of onlookers.
Caution low bridge - Rochdale Canal in Manchester
That evening, the Conference organisers had booked Katherine
Jenkins for a concert. I’m a great fan of hers, and was looking forward to it.
However a few months ago she cancelled, as she had landed a role in a West End
musical. Instead, the organisers arranged a ‘West End meets Broadway’ show,
which didn’t really interest us, so the PDG and I decided to do our own
thing. We went out for dinner and opted
for a Chinese Restaurant on the edge of Chinatown. It was rather a smart
Restaurant, with good service, but we really should have checked the prices
before entering. It was without doubt the most expensive Chinese meal we’d ever
had. We didn’t feel we ate all that much, not even expensive choices off the
menu, but we didn’t get much change out of £100 by the time we left.
Katherine Jenkins
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