I have been a member of Watton & District Rotary Club
for a year now, following my transfer from Shepperton Aurora. There have been
many differences between the two clubs. Firstly and most obviously, there is a
geographical difference. Watton is 150 miles North East of Shepperton, in an
area I was unfamiliar with prior to moving there. I had no contacts in Watton, in fact I knew
nobody. Similarly, my new Rotary colleagues knew nothing of me or the PDG when
we joined them, and all our previous fame meant nothing to them. Whereas I
could have walked down Shepperton High Street at any time of day and met a
dozen people I knew, I was a stranger in Watton.
Watton town sign, featuring Babes n the Wood and the Hare and Barrel
So the Rotary Club was a bit of a lifeline, in getting to
know some influential local people, and in getting myself involved in the
community. Their local knowledge has been invaluable, and I have enjoyed their
easy going company. I felt at home from
day one, not least because there are four other members called Mike, making me
Mike the fifth, or Jersey Mike as some have nicknamed me, in recognition of my
ancestry. More than half the club’s membership have at some time served in the
Armed Forces, either the army or RAF, and in one case both. Consequently I have
become adept at spotting the various military aircraft that fly over the area,
whether they are Eurofighters, F-35s or Ospreys. On one memorable afternoon I
was thrilled to see a Lancaster Bomber flying over my house. Pretty remarkable,
given that there is now only one Lancaster still flying.
The Osprey, part helicopter, part plane
Other big differences between the two clubs are that Watton
meets in the evenings, whereas Aurora met for breakfast, and furthermore Watton
had a membership comprising only men, compared to Aurora’s 50% female
membership. A breakfast-meeting Rotary club has to complete all its business in
about an hour, but an evening meeting is more relaxed and can extend until
closing time. Another difference, which would be insignificant unless you were
in a wheelchair, was that the exterior to the Hare and Barrel pub, where the
club meets, was covered in gravel. If that wasn’t enough of a problem, the
entrance was through a narrow door, with internal steps down to the meeting
room.
Hare and Barrel Hotel
In view of these differences, the PDG decided to resign as a
member after just 3 months. The combination of evening meetings (she doesn’t
much care for late nights these days), difficulty in getting in and out of the
venue, and the lack of female company were the main reasons. Another factor was
that she was very busy at home in getting the new house the way she wanted it,
which she found tiring. The Rotary club
members were horrified to receive her resignation. Having taken 60 years to
welcome a lady member into their midst, they were appalled to lose her so soon.
Their main worry was that someone had upset her, but she quickly reassured them
on this point. Every Rotary event she has attended since leaving, she is told
they are missing her, and when is she going to come back. Maybe she will one
day.
Our new house
I have maintained my membership of the Rotary Club, and
whilst I haven’t exactly jumped in with both feet, I have slowly become more
involved in its activities. I have attended most meetings in the past year,
helped out with collections at Tesco’s, supported a number of social events,
and probably most enjoyably, got involved in service activities, which are what
I think Rotary is all about.
Tesco at Watton
During the summer, I gave a ‘My job’ talk to the club. Most
new members are asked to talk about their lives and careers at some point
during their first year, which helps existing members get to know them. I decided
to take the subject literally and gave an account of every job I ever had, from
dinner monitor at school to Bank Manager, via paper boy, dish washer and (later)
waiter at a Chinese Restaurant, labourer on a motorway construction site, and
barman. I told my story through a series
of anecdotes, which I hoped would keep them amused. I had been given 30 minutes
for my talk and my first thought was ‘how can I talk for that long?’ In the
event I had to be stopped after 40 minutes and I hadn’t even got half way
through the talk. I gave them a second instalment a few weeks later.
M3 Motorway - I helped build it
Social events during the year included an ‘Un-Christmas
dinner’ in February, a Jazz evening in March, and then in July probably my
favourite trip, a visit to Cromer. It was my first ever trip to Cromer, which
is one of the main seaside destinations on the East Coast. The town is famous
for its crabs, found in shallow, flinty
water, which is particularly clean, and gives the crab its distinctive taste.
Distinctive or not, I have never liked the taste of crabmeat, although I have
tried at regular intervals during my life. The fact is, that whenever I have bought
myself a crab sandwich, I’ve always regretted it.
Dressed Cromer crab
Anyway, back to the Cromer trip. A coach was organised to
take us there in the early evening, although the PDG and I opted to take our
car and gave a lift to two others. We had fish and chips on the pier, then went
to see the show in the theatre at the end of the pier. What a treat that was.
Cromer boasts the last end-of-pier show in the country, and it was like
stepping back in time, listening to the corny jokes of the compere, watching
magicians, singers, dancers. It wasn’t what you might call a West End
production, but it was great fun, and there was something essentially English
about it. I think we’ll go back there again next summer.
Theatre at the end of Cromer Pier
I have got involved in a couple of service projects this
year, beginning with ‘Crucial Crew’ in early summer. This involved spending a
day at Easton & Otley Agricultural College, escorting groups of children
around a series of talks being given to them on important aspects of personal
safety. The children (all year 6 and therefore in their last year at Primary
school, I’m told) are brought in by the busload to attend 10 x 10 minute workshops at the College,
delivered by The Norfolk Fire Service, the police, coastguards, Electricity
board and numerous others. The idea is to give the youngsters some important
information about staying safe at home, online, or in the community.
My job was to take charge of a group of children and their
teachers, and escort them around the building to make sure they went from room
to room promptly without anyone getting lost. I had one group in the morning,
and another in the afternoon, and got to sit in all the workshops. I thought
the talks were excellent.
Particularly noteworthy were the Fire brigade’s simulation
of a fire at home, the Police’s explanation of the dangers facing youngsters on
social media, and a talk on alcohol and drug awareness, where a jar filled with
tar was used to indicate what one year of smoking can do to your lungs. The
children were visibly shocked by this particular demonstration, and I heard at
least two of them say they would try and get their parents to stop smoking. I thought
the Crucial Crew was a valuable day spent in preparing children to stay safe in
the dangerous world they are growing up in. It was a pleasure playing a small
part in it, and if I have the opportunity I will volunteer again next year.
Norfolk Fire & Rescue
The Rotary Club tried something new this year, from an idea
put forward by Paul C. We organised an umbrella festival, and I sat on the
organising sub-committee as a tentative first step towards ‘getting involved’.
What we did was to buy a number of good quality white umbrellas at a cost of £5
each. People were invited to purchase these at £10 each and then decorate them
any way they wished. The decorated umbrellas would then be entered into a
competition, to be judged in September on the weekend of the Watton Carnival. Prizes
would be awarded to the winners in the junior and adult sections. Then all the
umbrellas would be displayed during the carnival procession.
Some of the umbrella entries
Some sponsorship money was obtained to cover costs, which
which enabled us to offer some umbrellas free of charge to disadvantaged
children. We expected to make a minimum charitable donation of £5 for every
umbrella we sold. As it was a new initiative for Watton, we had no idea what
the response would be, and thought that if we had a dozen or so entries it would
be good enough for our first year. To our delight, the competition really
caught the imagination of the public, and we actually sold 110 umbrellas. We
had to keep going back to our suppliers for more of them. I even managed to
sell 9 myself (to be honest I told one of my neighbours about the festival and
she sold them all).
Umbrellas being paraded through Watton
Interestingly, although we sold so many umbrellas, we only had
41 entry forms back, and then on the day of judgement, just 31 were brought in.
However that was enough for a decent competition, and still a lot more than we
anticipated when we started planning the Festival. The umbrellas looked good in
the parade, we managed to get plenty of publicity and we raised over £900 for
charity. Needless to say, we will be doing it again next year.
Two beauties, and the umbrellas aren't bad either
That’s about it for my first 10 months with the Rotary Club.
Now that I’m more or less finished with assembling furniture, unpacking boxes
and drilling holes in stud walls (which I hate doing) the new house is just
about sorted, and I can perhaps get more involved with the club’s activities.
