February 2010
Feb 27, 2010 7:30 PM
The Moorings was the venue for the Rotaract Annual Quiz. It was well attended by several Rotary Clubs (at least 7) which was great to see. Some rounds were easier than others but often the easier ones were the ones that in most quizzes I have attended over the years are the hardest. Consequently, our team, made up of me, Paul and David and Sue Butler, did not play our joker on the correct round - in fact we ended up playing it on our worst scoring round!
I managed to win a...
Feb 27, 2010 10:30 AM
Stratford College was the venue for the District Young Chef Final. 7 young chefs brought their produce and utensils with them (with their families in tow). 3 judges spent the morning watching them and giving them advice as they cooked a 3 course meal. Attention was not only given to the cooking but also the presentation of the food and the table.
We were able to watch on a tv screen what was happening in the kitchen as the youngsters cooked and were able to take a look around their...
Feb 26, 2010 7:15 PM
Admittedly I was not sure what to expect at this event. Over 450 people (mostly non-Rotarians) came to the National Motorcycle Museum to have a great time (and they certainly did). One lucky person went away with £1000 and several others won great raffle prizes.
The venue put on a good meal and several presentations were made by the club, one to a local school and £2500 to our Thanks for Life campaign. This was a combination from the club and Solihull School where the...
Feb 24, 2010 7:15 PM
Officers for next year came together for the Training seminar at the Arden Hotel. David Butler took us through the theme for next year and his priorities and areas of focus. After the input from David, the Assistant Governors and Chairmen split into 2 groups to look at their roles specifically. Some officers gave input from their roles' perspective.
It was strange to be at the first meeting that specifically focussed on next year. Made me realise how quickly time goes - it doesn't feel like...
Feb 23, 2010 7:30 PM
Club members, partners and guests including 2 visitors from Nuneaton Rotary Club met at the club meeting place with the snow falling (although fortunately not laying). As the expected speaker was a student who unfortunately was ill I stepped in and offered to do the talk I had done at another District's conference about my experience as a host parent to Youth Exchange students. It at least filled the speaker's slot for them and it was nice for me to see the faces of all our students up on the...
Feb 22, 2010 7:15 PM
It was great to meet up with a few members of Paul's Rotary Club to plan the Frog Racing evening for the trip of the Lithuanian New Generations Exchange Group who will be with us in April. Whilst Paul and I will take them to Scotland for a week and take them to the RIBI conference they will have the chance to visit a few clubs and a local school. The Bedworth Club is hosting their leaving event on the 19th April at the Bedworth ex servicemen's Club.
The purpose of the evening was to sort out...
Feb 21, 2010 12:30 PM
A lovely drive through snowy scenery took us to Droitwich Spa for the charter lunch of Droitwich Spa Rotary Club. As usual we got a great welcome from the members and a lovely afternoon was had. Several of us had banter about the football matches on that afternoon and Paul kept the Villa fans up to date with their scores throughout the meal through receiving updated messages through his phone (I got the West Brom ones through my own phone!)
We had a lovely lunch followed by a...
Feb 20, 2010 2:31 PM
A great afternoon in Warwick to be shown how to cook Italian food as the Italians do. We were shown how to make several dishes including Tiramisu (a favourite of mine). It was also great to learn a few tricks such as how to peel a butternut squash and if you don't have an airing cupboard how you can make your pizza dough rise.
It was good to see a large audience there but not too many so we could all try the food that was made. I have found a new risotto I shall look forward to making...
Feb 19, 2010 7:30 PM
A lovely evening spent at the Copt Heath Golf Club with Solihull Rotary Club and guests. The food was lovely and it was great to get to know President John's family. A really relaxed atmosphere was evident across the event.
John's brother Ted gave a fantastic talk about the history of parts of Birmingham. Having the family context to it added a great quality to the talk. Everybody was engrossed and had great admiration for Ted as he shared his own path to his degrees and becoming...
Feb 19, 2010 11:29 AM
A full church showed how popular a person Chris Brighton was. The snow fortunately had not stopped people coming. A member of Bewdley Rotary Club, JP and family man ensured that the church was pretty full as people came to say their goodbyes. Several tributes were made to Chris from different parts of his life. What came across was his commitment to giving service whether as a magistrate or a Rotarian and his sense of humour.
Many of the attendees at the service went on to...
Feb 17, 2010 7:00 PM
Over 60 people came together to hear Paul Anderson, a journalist, talk about his experience of Afghanistan. Warwick Avon had changed its day and time of meeting to allow Paul to come and talk to us. It was a good meal and it was great to see nine other clubs represented there.
Although he was hoping to show us a film it did not work well on the laptop so Paul went to a question and answer session. In my view it worked better as people got the questions answered that they wanted to ask rather...
Feb 16, 2010 7:30 PM
The main purpose of this committee meeting was to think through the content of the DOTS (District Officers' Training Seminar), PEPs (President Elects' Preparation Seminar) and District Assembly. David has come back from the RI Assembly with key messages which he is keen to share. The purpose of the meeting was to check through the organisation of the events and organise who is responsible for each element.
It's aim is also to focus on these events for future years and the future...
Feb 16, 2010 10:15 AM
I had taken today off as leave and wanted to ensure I used it as such and not another day to work from home so was delighted to hear that the Coventry Phoenix Inner Wheel Club were doing a visit to the Herbert Gallery in Coventry. I have never been to the Gallery and so was very keen to go and take a look.
It was a lovely day weatherwise and the company was great. The displays are very well done in the museum. I was only able to get around one hall of displays as it was so interesting....
Feb 15, 2010 6:00 PM
Paul kindly drove me to London where he worked in one of IBM's London offices whilst I went into Central London on the tube. I had time to kill so I walked the length of Oxford Street (without buying a thing) to kill some time. However, what I didn't realise until much later was that I actually killed my heel by causing the shoe to rub and the heel to bleed. It didn't help that I got wet in the snow and cold through the bitter wind that blew. However, it was good to get away for a few...
Feb 13, 2010 4:04 PM
It was great to attend an event that was just five minutes drive from home. It is the first time I have been to the Bedworth Civic Centre (it won't be the last I am sure). The Nuneaton Rotary Club had gone to great lengths to get the hall set up to display Rotary. There was a big Rotary symbol above the stage all evening and a shelterbox to the side of the stage which really gave people a good chance to see what they were raising money for. The scouts certainly made...
Feb 11, 2010 7:30 PM
It was great to go across to Bewdley for their 20th Charter Celebration. It was a lovely evening - very relaxed and well supported with 104 guests. It was good to see other clubs there to support as well.
Speeches were kept short which meant people had the chance to mingle and talk with each other. The Mayor and local MP were guests and praised the Rotary Club for its work. Dave, the Club President, gave a very good speech and reminded the club of some of the work it has done over its...
Feb 10, 2010 7:30 PM
As District Governor you chair the Executive Meeting. I am very fortunate that the executive members are very committed to our work and take their responsibilities very seriously. We reviewed our progress over the past 6 months against our initial action plan as well as determining the budget for the coming year. Long debates took place on some items but they were focussed. What is really encouraging is that everything is done with the 4 way test as our guiding principle. It...
Feb 8, 2010 7:30 PM
This is an event I attend annually and this year was as good as ever. It was nice to see Peter Ramage, District Foundation Chairman, come across as he had already heard the speakers at the Foundation Seminar. It was nice to see the partners of club members there as well.
It was great to have Jessica Sequera back to speak as an ex Ambassadorial Scholar who remained in Birmingham after her course and has now been made an honorary Rotarian by the Lichfield Club. We also heard...
Feb 7, 2010 5:30 PM
It was great to see work with my chosen charity taking place in person. Solihull St. Alphege work closely with the Solihull Young Carers and this was the third year that they have put on this event for the group. We all met at Wok's Hall and started with a human bingo game which got everyone mixing and finding out about each other. We then had a quiz followed by a lovely chinese buffet. It is amazing how much food teenagers can eat - some went up for at least 6 or 7 helpings. The...
Feb 7, 2010 1:00 PM
It is good to remind myself that I am married to a Rotarian who is one in his own right and has loyalties to his own club as I do to mine and the District. It was, therefore, very nice to go out for Sunday lunch with his club at the Terrace Bistro in Sketchley Grange. A good sized group of members and their families came together for what was a very nice meal. We had Rachel, a Peace Scholar, with us who was able to give those of us sittting near her a better picture of some of the...
Feb 6, 2010 8:30 AM
A good crowd of Rotarians came to the Arden Hotel to join us for the Foundation Seminar. As usual, Peter Ramage had prepared it well and ensured it covered all aspects of the Foundation's work. It was good to hear our Ambassadorial Scholars (both inbound and outbound) and our GSE Team who will be going to New Zealand in April. All who will be representing us are a credit and will be great ambassadors for us.
Jan Denning told us about the work of volunteers and the challenge now faced since...
Feb 5, 2010 6:45 PM
Well this was the event that wasn't really. I left the office with all good intentions of getting to Bablake School in time for the senior youth speaks competition only to get to my car to find it had a flat tyre! I had to wait in the car park on my own for over an hour for the AA man who had to hammer the wheel off in the end (at least it meant I didn't feel the pathetic woman for too long). Because my car has an emergency wheel I then could only drive at 50 miles an hour which...
Feb 4, 2010 7:00 PM
A late end to a work meeting meant I was rushing to get to this meeting however, I just made it on time. The new Assistant Governors for next year were there and we took the opportunity to take them through the meetings they will be involved with before 1st July. Although officially people take up positions on July 1st we always invite new Assistant Governors to our meetings in the second half of the year as they have several meetings to be involved with before they officially take up post....
Feb 3, 2010 7:30 PM
Orientations should always be held like this - over a nice Indian meal in my favourite restaurant. Paul and I took Laura Keenan out for a meal which as she has spent a lot of time in India we knew would not be a problem. It was good to get to know her better and to discuss through with her the expectations of the Ambassadorial Scholarship programme.
We covered things like the content of her speeches to clubs, the balance of work and Rotary events, ensuring she sees something of...
Feb 2, 2010 8:00 PM
It is not often a District Governor is asked to come and do his or her speech again at a club but Coventry Jubilee wanted a version of my club talk for prospective members. I tweaked it slightly but kept the same theme and some of the same text.
The evening gave people the chance to hear about the work the club does under each of its committees which gave a clear picture of the variety of work undertaken. There was also a presentation of cheques and certificates to 2 young athletes...
Feb 2, 2010 9:00 AM
The General Council Meeting started just after lunch on Monday (to allow those travelling to arrive in time). Prior to the meeting there is a reasonable amount of paperwork to read so that you are ready to make decisions at the meeting. A lot of debate does take place and it does take the equivalent of 2 half days to get through the agenda. We have done a whole day before which saves those of us working from having to take 2 days off work but it is very intensive.
We managed to...
Feb 1, 2010 7:30 PM
After the General Council Meeting I drove over to the Chace Hotel for the Inner Wheel meeting of Coventry Phoenix. It was the first meeting I had managed to make since being made an honorary member. It was a good one to be at as Chrissy Dance, the Inner Wheel Chairman, came to talk with the members. It was a very relaxed meeting and one where the club members were able to share their memories of past events with each other. It was great to be with a group of people who enjoy...
