"Last Night of the Proms" Rotary Club of Ashbourne.

Gail and I had been looking forward to attending this "Last Night of the Proms" Concert being organised by the Rotary Club of Ashbourne for some time and we were definately not disappointed.  The Mayor and Mayoress of Ashbourne were also guests for the evening.   The venue was St. John's Church on Buxton Road at Ashbourne and having managed to find somewhere to park for the evening made our way to the church, arriving in plenty of time.

With an audience in the region of 200 the church, whilst not full to capacity was more than enough to create a really good atmosphere. 

Music was provided by the Ashbourne Town Band, under their conductor, Russell Bevan, a young man who really made the evening buzz.    One of the presenters fro Ashbourne Radio, Steve Jenner was the compere for the evening.

The music took a tour around Britian with Men of Harlech, Mull of Kintyre, accompamnied by a lady called Liz on the bagpipes(sorry Liz but I can't recall your surname), Londonderry Air and British Grenadiers setting the scene.   We were marvellously entertained to several solos, from Cathy Oldfield, who I believe is a local celebrity.   

After a refreshment break the music stepped up into the realms of Pomp and Circumstance No 1, Dam Busters March and Jerusalem,  all with accompanying flag waving and hearty singing by the audience.

Conductor - Russell Bevan

President Chris amid a sea of read white and blue

 Pres. Chris, with Notty and the Mayor and Mayoress

The piper - Liz

At the (almost) conclusion to the evening, the President of Asbourne Rotary Club, presented cheques to three First Responder Units from the Ashbourne area and thanked the various people that had arranged the event and made itr happen.

Amber Valley Charter Night - 28th September

The Boundary at Broadmeadows, South Normanton was the venue this evening for the 30th Charter Anniversary celebrations by the Rotary Club of Amber Valley.    Their President David Hickton chaired the event, with Rotarian Richard Moulder doing an excellent job as compare.   There were about 115 Rotarians and guests present and we enjoyed an excellent three course meal, before moving on the toasts and speeches.

I was delighted to be asked to respond to the toast to Rotary International and to propose the toast to the Rotary Club of Amber Valley.   Once the formalities were over the assembled throng enjoyed some entertainment provided by a female singing group called "Another Dimension".   These four ladies had a varied repertoire and were absolutely great.  They were all local people and they donate all the fees that they earn from their singing to local charities.     So you know where to go if you need a vocal harmony group.

Overall a really good night and my thanks go to President David and Amber Valley for inviting Gail and I as their guests.  At the end of the evening all the floral table decorations were presented to various members and guests who were present.



"Another Dimension"

President David addressing the audience

Looking forward now to tomorrow night at a "Last Night of the Proms" at Ashbourne.

A Busy Few Days 27th September 2012

On 25th September I went to the Rotary Club of West Ashfield at the Derbyshire Hotel at South Normanton.  It was a 7pm start and Paul Taylor from the Rotary Club of Belper and Duffield acted as driver for the evening.

It was a joint meeting with the Rotary Club of Mansfield and so there was a fairly large audience there,  The two Presidents (Peter from West Ashfield and Paul from Mansfield) were excellent hosts for the evening and were great company.

I talked to the members present about the Rotary International theme for the year and presented each President with a letter from RI President Sakuzi and an origami crane.

I also talked briefly about our upcoming Conference in Southport.

At the end of the meeting I had an interesting chat with Rtn Tony Balding about Youth Exchange Programmes (He was formerly the District Youth Exchange Officer) and about the numbers of youngsters that we used to send off on exchange visits.

Thanks to all at the two clubs and to Paul Taylor for acting as the driver.

On Wednesday 26th September I drove down to Alcester for a 9am start to the RIBI General Council meeting.   The main item on the agenda was the issues of Re-Districting.  We heard that the proposal was for the number of Districts to be reduced from the present 29, down to 24 from 1st July 2015. The proposals for the boundaries of the new Districts and the clubs that each will consist of were revealed.    Whilst this is not the place for a disclosure of this information I am in possession of the details and will be communicating it with clubs over the next few days.

I excused myself from this meeting at 3.30pm and made my way home to get changed and pick Gail up, just in time to set off for a meeting of the Rotary club of Mapperley and Arnold where the Group Study Exchange Team (GSE) were making their first formal presentation.   

It was a very lively meeting and the presentation from the team was very informative and the assembled members and guests found it most interesting.  I am now looking forward to meeting up with the team at Conference.

Presidents Peter and paul with DG Dave

The GSE TEam

Thanks to all at Mapperley and Arnold, in particular President David, for their efforts in putting this evening on.

District Council Meeting 24th September

This evening's meeting of the District Council, the first of this Rotary year was well attended with the large room at the Novotel fairly full.   In an attempt to give the meeting a less formal atmosphere I had done away with the long top table of District Officers.  Those individuals instaed sat with their clubs or friends in the main body of the hall.

During the usual business session of the Council, as well as reports from District Officers, the Assistant Governors reported on the activities of the clubs in their groups.  David Pedlar, the District Conference Director gave a short presentation outlining our concerens about the low numbers attending the Conference.

We then had presentations from Martin Beaumont of Drofield about the Fishtail Project, John Cavey from Derby about the experiences at the Kedleston Showcase, Noel Harrison of Sherwood Sunrisers about the Nottingham Showcase and finally from Ian Holliday about the forthcoming RI Convention in Lisbon.

The District Sergeant at Arms, Owen J Briggs, kept order and the meeting ended a few minutes late, just before 9.15pm.   All attendees were asked to complete a feedback form, the results from which we shall use to decide the format and contents etc of future meetings.

A Welcome party for the Group Study Exchange Team from Nepal.

The long awaited Rotary Group Strudy Exchange Team from District 3292 in Nepal, arrived in England yesterday (22/09/2012) and were collected from the airport at Birmingham by Rtn Rob Gray and Rtn Steve Lawes.

Today Gaila and I joined them at Rob Gray's house for lunch with various other members of the District organising committee.

The team consists of Team Leader Rtn Nugal Vaidya and forur members -Suyesh Pradhan, Shresna Basnet, Dipika Shrestha and Roshani Manandhar.  They will be stayina number of Rotarians and their families for the next four weeks and various local government offices, police, fire, ambulance, local industry and commerce etc.  They will also  each have the opportunity to visit four separate organisations that are in the same vocation as the team members - to compare notes.

They will also be making a number of formal presentations to Rotary Clubs and to the District Conference in Southport.

It was great to meet them all - they seem to be a well balanced team and are clearly looking forward to the next four weeks.

The team with organiser Rob Gray, DG Dave and Rtn Gail Ashley

West Bridgford Club - out in the community

On Saturday, members of the Rotary Club ofd West Bridgford were out at the Farmers Market in the town, publicising Roatary and in particular their club.   They had a stall - well actually they had the trailer made by Andy Voce from the Bingham Club, which looked really professional.  They were giving little "giveaways" to the children and talking to the parents.

They had a most professional looking A5 leaflet about the club which they pressed into the hands of anyone who would accept one.  Aquabox was also on the stall attractying some attention.

I went over about 11am to find them in full swing and several people chatting with the Rotarians who were on the stall at the time.

A colourful stall attracting the attention of the public

Well done West Bridgford.  Great to see you out there selling Rotary.

37th Charter Anniversary celebrations - Southwell

Thursday 20th September saw me heading over to The Saracen's Head at Southwell for the 37th Charter Celebrations.   Southwell was chartered in 1975, some 37 years ago.   Incredibly the club still has seven active Rotarians who had been original founder members.    Five of them were present this evening.

 

With some seventy persons present, a little down on average numbers I was told, the atmosphere in the room was still jovial and light hearted.

 

After a traditional three course meal, the toast to Rotary International was admirably given by Vice President Harold Huxtable.   I responded to this toast and proposed the toast to the Rotary Club of Southwell.

 

The main speaker for the evening was Mr Peter Cook,  now a headteacher and previously a first class rugby player.  He entertained the audience, recounting his progression through the various stages of rugby, to being called up for England trials and then to becoming a headmaster.

 

The Club President, Peter Littlewood, was an absolutely excellent host throughout the evening, despite being somewhat under the weather with an inner ear infection.

 

My thanks to Peter and the Rotary Club of Southwell for their hospitality and their welcome and also to Rotarian David Harris, of my own club for driving me tonight.