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.

RIBI Conference Manchester 2017 Day 4

Sunday 9^th April. A few logistical issues this morning. We had to check out of the Hotel before going over the road to the Final Conference session. This meant my walking the 400 yards or so to the car park, paying the fee to get out (discounted 20% by the Hotel, but still about £12 per day), then driving it to the Hotel, loading it up with our luggage, plus yesterday’s shopping, then driving back to the car park. Even with the discount, parking in Central Manchester is seriously expensive, and I was in one of the cheaper car parks. I wondered what would have happened if I had just left it at the Conference Centre. The police would have towed it away, but releasing it from their pound might have been cheaper than the car park charge.

Bridgewater Hall car park, where I was 

Having finally achieved all of this, I rejoined the PDG at the Manchester Central Convention Centre for the final day of the Conference. As usual we started off meeting up with various friends from around the country. It was good catching up with the others from our DG group. Some have taken jobs with RIBI, others have been happy to take a back seat for a while, after the exertions of their year in office, and who can blame them.

Manchester Central Convention Centre

The final session got under way at 9.30 and I went to take my seat in the auditorium whilst the PDG headed off to the Guide Dogs stand. The morning commenced with a performance from the renowned Hallé Youth Choir.They were quite brilliant, with a varied repertoire of modern and classical songs. They were followed on stage by RI Vice President Jennifer Jones who gave her final address of the weekend, and once again I was impressed by her relaxed style of presentation.

Halle Youth Choir

After a coffee break, during which I sampled some ‘purple4Polio’ ice cream, a great idea from Huntley club in Aberdeenshire produced to support the End Polio Now campaign, it was back to the auditorium, to hear President Eve Conway give her final address, before introducing our next speaker, Eric Knowles. Eric, besides being a Rotarian himself, is a well known antiques expert and broadcaster, particularly well-known to viewers of Antiques  Roadshow. He had brought along a few old items himself, and gave an entertaining and often hilarious talk about them, and about life generally  in the world of antiques.

Rotarian Eric Knowles

Next up was probably the highlight of the morning, a presentation by Michael Angelo Caruso, a Rotarian from Michigan, USA and a teacher of Presentation skills. With a name like that, I knew he would be good, and he was indeed very entertaining, speaking about his experiences in the Corporate world, where he trains staff in Management and Sales skills. Some of his stories were superb, particularly one about a chance meeting on an aircraft, and they all helped to illustrate important points. There were several laugh-out-loud moments. He was the kind of speaker you could listen to all day, and wonder where the time went.

Rotarian Michael Angelo Caruso

He was followed by Martin Bell, former BBC War correspondent, who famously won the Parliamentary seat of Tatton from Neil Hamilton in 1997. He now spends most of his time as an ambassador for Unicef, and gave us an insightful talk about some of the troubled areas of the world, most of which he has visited at some time. He gave rather a downbeat view of the world’s immediate future, believing that some of the major areas of conflict are unlikely to be resolved soon.

Martin Bell

Well, I thought, thank goodness our final speaker this morning, Russell Grant, will provide some light relief and send us away smiling. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. We heard nothing about his varied media career as an astrologist, actor and star of ‘Strictly’. He was here today representing Dementia UK, of which he is patron, and Alzheimers Research, and told us the sad story of how his mother suffered from Alzheimers in her final years. He cared for her himself, until it was no longer possible, and now campaigns for funding of research into the causes and possible cures for those suffering from this awful disease. He spoke very movingly, and reminded me of similar experiences I have had myself. However I don’t want to sound churlish but I was hoping to be entertained this morning; I believe it’s possible to get serious messages across and still make the audience smile. Our two final speakers failed to achieve this, in my opinion.

Russell Grant

So that was the end of the Conference. It had been enjoyable in parts, uplifting in others, and I certainly enjoyed getting to know my way around Manchester. All that remained was to say our farewells to all our friends, many of whom we would be seeing again in a few weeks at our annual DG reunion, which this year will be in Essex. The motorways behaved themselves on the way home, and we were picking Daisy up from Sandra’s by 5.30.