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.