It is always good to be made welcome when attending a Rotary meeting - for whatever the reason - and I was certainly made very welcome by the members of the Rotary Club of Kenilworth this evening. I was attending their meeting to support Ryoko Abe, one of our Ambassadorial Scholars, and had contributed by providing a projector and screen for Ryoko to use, although the was a slight miscommunication as one of the Club members had also brought a projector and there was already a screen in the room!
After an excellent meal that was served very efficiently by the staff of the Ramada, Ryoko gave her talk. She does seem to be getting more confident each time, which is great to see. This time she was a little thrown though as she had discovered during the meal that the Rotarian sat next to her was a Professor of Political Science at Warwick University. He was not the one asking the difficult questions after her talk though...
It was great timing for the visit as it meant I was there when the announcement was made that the Rotary Youth Speaks team sponsored by the Club had made it through to the GB & Ireland Final after winning at the Regional competition the day before. The Club have been extremely supportive with the Ambassadorial Scholars and even more supportive with Youth Exchange over the years. This was demonstrated this evening when I was presented with a cheque to cover one of the places for the next Youth Exchange Camp that kicks off on Saturday. Not only were they sponsoring a place, but the President and his wife were hosting two of the participants.
A bonus for me was that Ryoko was given a lift home by one of the Club members, allowing me to head directly home to continue working on the planning for the Camp.
Well done to Ryoko and many many thanks to the Rotary Club of Kenilworth for all its support on so many levels.