District Gov Visit & Clay Cross Charter Evening

This past Monday night we had District Governor Peter Moralee as our guest speaker. He was accompanied by our AG Tony Storer. We had all the top brass in that night and had a very lively evening showing the Club at its finest.

It was also an absolute pleasure to hear Peter speak and expound upon the District's year thus far, his own personal experiences and his hopes for the future. Peter had us all discussing why we joined Rotary and how we can use that reason to get others involved in Rotary in the future. 

Peter does deliver a very well thought-out and thought provoking speech. I have seen Peter several times at Charters and District Conference and not once has he used the same speech twice. He does his research on clubs and knows them inside out before he arrives. Personally, I had a great conversation with him over dinner. All in all Peter is a superb example of Service Above Self. He has certainly put his life into Rotary and we are all the better for it.

It was very interesting the part of his speech dealing with polio and his very passionate plea to do all we can to complete the job of eradicating this terrible disease from our planet. His knowledge on the subject is superb and all of us in the room learned things about polio we didn't know before the meeting. I think many of us are now wanting to move forward with a project to help raise the money Peter suggested. 

Thank you Peter for attending our Club meeting this past Monday. We look forward to seeing you at our Charter night in April 2014.

Tony Storer, Peter Moralee, Me

PRESIDENTIAL MOMENT

We did the 16th President of the USA on Monday night and that was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is my favourite president of all time. Known as 'honest Abe' and the fact he was a great orator and speech writer means that the honour of being Abraham Lincoln had to go to DG Peter. 

The other similarity is that both Lincoln and DG Peter have beards. That settles it for me!!!

CLAY CROSS CHARTER
Late last week I attended the Clay Cross Charter. It was a very different Charter and a very successful one too. It was much less formal than the usual Charter but the food was good and the fellowship fantastic. The Clay Cross bunch do make everyone feel welcome.

One of the things they did that was of great interest to me was the fact they displayed their archived items from their Club history from Day One. Very valuable stuff and congratulations to them for keeping up with their own history.

Got a busy weekend and it all seems to happen on Saturday. First the Clay Shoot on Saturday morning and then the Foundation Concert where yours truly will be performing. See you there!

Wollaton Park Charter Evening

What a great evening we had at Wollaton Park Charter Evening. A very active and vibrant club mainly consisting of Doctors! I had the privilege of going with Rtns John Cook and JVP Tony Beenham and their wives/partners Stephanie and Paula. Well, all I can say is we all looked the part and we must have been the most handsome and beautiful people there! Lol

Paula, Tony, Stephanie, John

I had the honour to meet WPRC's President Lynn Martin who during the course of conversation found out she was a student at the school I teach at (Ockbrook School)  in the late 70's and early 80's. Of course we shared stories and must meet u again to talk about our two favourite subjects - Rotary and Ockbrook School.

President Lynn and Me

The Guest Speaker was Esther Rantzen. She was superb, speaking on her time on tv, her family history which was discovered on the show 'Who Do You Think You Are" and her main project in life Child Line. She spoke with passion and commitment on how Child Line has helped and continues to help teens across the UK who feel the need to talk to someone else other than their family or friends on any issue not matter how big or small.

Esther then went on to talk about her new project - Silver Line. This will be rolled out in the next few months and is aimed at the elderly who have little contact with others and are feeling lonely. Another worthy cause that I am sure will equal the success of Child Line. Esther certainly is a very busy and giving person and puts service above self.

Esther with DG Peter after Charter talking to guests

 Sadly for Esther, she had the worse seat in the house. Her seat was right behind mine where she had an eagle-eyed view of the back of my head (and bald spot) all evening. Poor girl must have been put off her eating. Oh well, there goes my ribbing shoulders with the rich and famous!

Our party shared a table with Rotarians from WPRC and we enjoyed great company and fellowship with new friendships as well. I look forward to attending one of their Wednesday evening meetings in the near future.

Tonight it is on to Clay Cross for heir Charter evening. Stay tune to this blog for that update later tonight.

Greg

Curry Evening & Visit to Burton-On-Trent RC

Once again it has been an action packed week. This past Saturday evening we were treated to a superb Curry Evening by our own young Rotarian Chris Tew and his lovely wife Andrea. Together they whipped up an incredible 3 course feast of Indian food. In fact one of the waiters (who was Indian) said that the onion baji's were the best he ever tasted. High praise indeed.

Chris had help in the kitchen from our own Simon Beal and Quentin Robbins a very good friend of the Club. All three chefs performed their magic to make the evening very special indeed. 

Our three chefs. Chris, love that apron!

The Lecture Hall was decorated out to perfection and guests really soaked up the atmosphere, especially when the Bhangra band started to play. It got me up and dancing. I felt as if I was 21 again. However, the next morning every bone in my body reminded me of my real age. Nevertheless I will not be discouraged again from dancing to Bhangra. It is great dance music.

Guests enjoying pre dinner conversation

The Hall all set up before anyone arrived. Superb colours of India!

I am hoping to upload a video of me dancing so you'll have to check back when I obtain said video from the Rotarian who took it covertly no less! LOL I'll send out a message when it is posted.

Besides the food tasting great it looked the part as well. Here is a sample of what we had. Yummy!

 This Indian pudding was great. Mango, cream and a lot of other things that tasted great but I am sure not good for you. Oh well, there went the diet. LOL

          

All the puddings in the fridge. You can feel the calories pile on just looking at this picture!

  Chick Pea Curry, Lamb Rogan Josh

 Our starter. Lovely!

Thank you once again to all of the Club Admin team for helping make our first Curry Club meeting a great success.

MEETING VISIT TO BURTON ON TRENT RC

The Burton RC is a very friendly club where I have made many acquaintances over the years that have turned into good friendships. After all that is a big part of Rotary! It was a pleasure to join Burton RC for their Monday lunch time meeting at the Burton Albion home football ground the Pirelli Stadium.

Whilst there I got to meet some of their players, partake in a Polio Plus photo with their Club and sit in the players dugout and get a picture with their Madame President Jenny Gray.

Some of the lads.

Me and Jenny in the Dugout.

A great way to spend a lunch time with a great club (very friendly) and great surroundings.

PRESIDENTIAL MOMENT

This past Monday evening we had the induction of the 15th President of the USA - James Buchanan. Here are some interesting facts on old James:

• Only President from Pennsylvania
• Only President to be a life-long bachelor
• UK Connection - - Served as Minister to The Court of St James’s 
• Was born in a log cabin
• Was almost kicked out of school for poor behaviour
• Buchanan stated in his Presidential Inaugural Address that he did not intend to run for another term.

Famous Quote: What is right and what is practicable are two different things.

Well, this honour went to Stuart who is a lifelong bachelor. I'm not sure Stewart misbehaved in School. At least I hope not. Congratulations Stewart. You did it.

The remainder of this week will be busy for me as I am attending two charters on Wed & Thurs evenings. I'll be reporting on them in due course with plenty of pictures. I can't promise that I won't dance at them. Lol.

See you soon!

Greg

Head Teacher By Day / Basketball Referee By Night

What a fantastic talk last night about basketball, being a referee and the rules of the game of basketball at international level. Hats off to our guest speaker Graham Legg. He did a superb job educating us with his enthusiasm for the sport of basketball and the art of refereeing.

Me with "The Man"

Graham is the Head Teacher at East Leek Academy by day and a professional basketball referee by night. He has officiated at some of the top international and national tournaments and games over the past few decades. It was great to have Rotarians at the meeting becoming basketball players for demonstration purposes and still others doing some officiating. Graham was able to condense the 16 hour officials course into a half hour. Either he is very good at what he does or we are very fast learners!!!

We were also blessed to have with us two members from Belper & Duffield Club who were out on a scatter evening. It was a pleasure to welcome Sheilagh Harnan and Peter Shepherd and at the end of the meeting both were very impressed with our Club's live and active atmosphere and the pace of our meeting. We also talked about different ideas of communicating with people outside of Rotary... Thank you for coming Sheilagh and Peter. I hope to visit your Club after my Presidential year.

Our two guests from Belper & Duffield - Sheilah and Peter

PRESIDENTIAL MOMENT

Finally, we awarded our 14th President of the USA to Rtn IPP Derek Sheehy-Smith. He was awarded the honour of Franklin Pierce.

14th President Franklin Pierce

The traits that Derek shares with Pierce are those of being dashing, eloquent speakers and lawyers. Oh, Pierce was born in a log cabin, but Derek is from Aston. A long, long way from a log cabin existence. Oh well, can't have everything! Congratulations Derek.

A Little Thank You Video

As was mentioned in the previous blog entry we seemed to have passed the first quarter mark of Rotary year 2013-14 and as a Club we have so much to be proud of. Hope you enjoy the video and look forward to the many events for the 2nd quarter.

Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm.

Greg

District Conference 2013 - Scarborough & More!

Another packed week of Rotary activities combined with the day job makes for an enjoyable and exhausting time. It is hard to imagine that last weekend I was in Scarborough enjoying the District 1220 Annual Conference with fellow Rotarians and their wives/partners in a jammed packed weekend of seminars and entertainment. 

I certainly didn't expect the Conference to be so much fun. After all, when one hears the word "conference" one is not exactly jumping up and down with excitement. But, this (District Conference) is so different than your average conference. I am so glad I went and I intend to go next year as well. Already Secretary Tony is looking into accommodation for October 2014. And, whilst we are talking about Tony I must thank him for his perfect planning of our every move throughout the weekend and arranging our dinners out as well. Without Tony we would not have been half as organised as we were.

I am certainly most thankful to everyone who went and your company and fellowship throughout the weekend was very much appreciated. Such great conversations... Thanks!

The 'gang' at District 1220 Conference 2013. We do scrub up well. Lol

Much of the focus of discussion was on membership retention and attracting the next generation of Rotarians. After hearing some of the talks I am even more convinced that having a Facebook and Twitter presence is more important than ever and that our Club did make the right choice for its own future to have both FB and Twitter as a way for us to communicate to the outside world and the next generation of Rotarians.

One of the talks was on Generation Y. How very interesting to hear someone put into words in a logical manner what I experience on a day to day basis as a teacher. Whilst we may find it difficult to understand Generation Y's ways... we can't stop trying to communicate with them. I don't care if people write Generation Y off. I feel they have so much to offer and the world of Rotary will be brought forward to new heights.  

Enough about Conference. I'll be talking to the Club more in depth about it at our Business meeting on Monday evening.

THIS PAST MONDAY'S MEETING

Derby Rowing Club

Mark Davis

We welcomed Mark Davis who is a Dispensing Optician for over 30 years in Spondon and enjoys working and talking to his many clients.

Derby Rowing Club is very much part of his life having started rowing at the age of 14 at the Derby High School. He rowed for just 3 weeks but being just 4 ft 1in (124cm) he became a Cox. Having coxed teams for many years he moved onto coaching.

The role of a coach is to prepare the athletes to perform at their maximum and beyond and this linked to team building it most important. In training it hurts and in competitions it is agony but winning is bliss and the pain is then so much less.

The role of the Cox is to inform the crew what is going on, to motivate, he needs to be heard but is not noisy all the time and to go out with a game plan

Mark spoke about the boats which are 60 feet long and how much they cost which is between £12,000 and £25,000

Having been a past captain of the Derby Rowing Club he is also a Vice President and Trustee and has built up lots of friendships and respect with the members over many years.

Thank you very much Mark for your inspirational talk.

Last Meeting Of The First Quarter

It is hard to believe that the first quarter of my year as President has gone by. Looking back at these blogs I am amazed and humbled by what the Club has done in such a short period of time. As President I could not have asked for more support, generosity and goodwill from any Club member. Church Wilne Rotary Club is the best Club anyone can be a part of. 

St Chad's Church Wilne

Tonight we had a great last meeting of the quarter with Dean Anderson of Anderson's Cafe in Breaston and Long Eaton. Dean's historical talk of his journey into helping the less fortunate of society was very interesting and inspiring as he has been and continues to be guided by his firm beliefs.

Dean's talk dovetailed nicely with the talk earlier this quarter about Canaan Trust. Dean in fact set up the predecessor to Canaan and it was a project his whole family got involved with. Thank you Dean for sharing a part of your life with us.

Dean Anderson & I After Meeting

11th President of The USA

Tonight we also had a short history on the 11th President of The USA who was James Polk. To be honest I had never heard of this guy before so it was in fact a history lesson for me as well. 

Polk's accomplishments were mainly achieved by force. He negotiated the 45th parallel souther boundary of Canada with the British government at the time with the threat of war and indeed took California and New Mexico from Mexico with the use of force by declaring war on Mexico, winning and taking what he wanted.

A very interesting fact about Polk is he had Urinary tract stones removed with no anaesthetic and only brandy to dull the pain. Ouch! He was awake for the whole operation too. Double Ouch!! 

So with those facts it was very difficult to name a Rotarian for the honour of being the 11th President so I had to go on looks alone. Therefore, Mick White got the nod. Congratulations Mic for getting the final honour of the first quarter. 

THANK YOU ALL FOR A GREAT FIRST QUARTER

President Greg