Crabs and Umbrellas

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.