After a couple of days without any Rotary jobs to attend to, today saw Gail and I set off mid morning for Scarborough to the Conference of District 1040. We were the guests of two good friends, District Governor Keith and his wife, Edith Davison.
We stayed at The Crown Hotel on the Esplanade and I have to say that as seaside hotels go this was one of the best. The rooms were modern, light and airy with all mod-cons. Slightly more expensive than some, but well worth the extra.
Another advantage was that this hotel is almost immediately at the top of the Cliff Lift that goes down to the Spa Complex which made walking to and from the Spa much easier than from some hotels.
Whilst Scarborough is a very popular resort I do think it has seen better days. As we looked round the town, we came across a lot of hotels that looked somewhat dated and worn out, a lot of empty premises and a lot of amusement arcades and the like.
The 1040 conference was of a similar format to our own and had a similar number of people attending - just over 700. Interestingly they do not have any sessions on the Friday afternoon - just the House of Friendship open for business.
Friday evening saw a Black Tie Dinner, with an after dinner comedian. I had a sense of De Ja Vue when the comedian proved not to be what the organisers had hoped he would be and they asked him to leave the stage, because he had died a death - he was just not funny and was somewhat rude into the bargain. The District Governor had his performance cut short - just as happened to me the previous week. It can happen in the best of circles.
The conference programme on the Saturday and Sunday was varied and interesting. On Saturday evening we were entertained by Driffield Silver Band - they were very good - apart from the fact that they were half an hour late starting because their Musical Director had come without the music! A band member stood in and told some jokes and stories till they were ready to start - much better than the comedian the night before - he received a really rousing applause when he stepped down and the band came on. Their programme was based on a "Last Night of the Proms" and went down very well. Excellent entertainment.
We set off for home at lunch time on Sunday arriving back at tea time just in time to get changed and drive over to Clay Cross to the Gurkha Restaurant there, where we enjoyed an evening of fellowship with the GSE Team from Nepal and their hosts from the Rotary Club of Amber Valley. Rotarian Phil Harris did his best to give everyone the "Man Flu" from which he was suffering, but hopefully we will have avoided it.
The GSE Team I have to say are great company with their Team Leader Nugal Vaidya from the Rotary Club of Mount Everest. I shall be seeing a little of them hopefully on Monday at Belper & Duffield and then on Wednesday at Derby Mercia. (Do come along to either if you are free - they are worth listening to.)
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