Friday 28 March 2011 - Rotary Club of Eckington & District Charter celebration

President Jake (Michael) Jackson and the members of the Rotary Club of Eckington & District held their Charter celebration at the new Chesterfield Football Club stadium.
It is truly an excellent venue with very good food, service and view of the pitch.

Jake was completely bowled over when I presented him with a Paul Harris Fellowship. He was lost for words and had great difficuly making his speech! This club has turned round from almost closure and is actively inducting new members having changed with the times.
On the right is Rosalind Lunt who is to be their first lady President next year. The speaker was Adrian Sumner from ShelterBox.

Wednesday 23 March 2011 - District 1220 Quiz Final

The final of the District Quiz was held at the Sherwood Forest Leisure Centre. As usual the teams were very competitive and the eventual winners were the Rotary Club of Bretby with Dronfield in second place and Trent Bridge A coming third.

I am told that Sherwood Sunrisers, my own club, held back so as not to embarrass me by winning!

My sincere thank go to Mike Storr from the Rotary Club of Carlton (on the right) for organising a superb event again.

Monday 21 March 2011 - Rotary Club of Heanor Charter

President Stephen Elder and the Rotary Club of Heanor held a successful Charter celebration at Morley Hayes Golf Club.
On the right here is the speaker, Paddy Lavens, the oldest rucking lady on the road!



I was delighted and amazed to meet PDG Dr Prabhu and his wife from Karnataka in District 3180 where we are doing two Matching Grant projects. It's a small world and we hope to meet them again in India later this year!


The Inner Wheel Club of Heanor turned out in force to support the Rotary club and as you can see above we had a group photograph.

Sunday 20 March 2011 - Paul Harris Lunch at the Novotel

The annual Paul Harris lunch today was a the Novotel and was once again fully booked.

It was great to meet up with so many friends from all over the District and my thanks go to Gordon and Lorraine McGlone for organising the event and the irrepressible Sergeant at Arms Don Mackenzie who kept us on track.

Our speaker John Minhinick who will be the President of RIBI in 2012 / 2013 gave an excellent speech and I was delighted to see John again.
I was his Facilitator for 2 years at RIBI when he was the Chairman of the Communications Committee and know that he will do a great job for us when he takes office as President.

Saturday 19 March 2011 - Rotary Club of Hucknall - Ockbrook School Choir Concert

The Rotary Club of Hucknall held a superb concert with the Ockbrook School Chamber Choir with a packed audience in the local Baptist Church. The proceeds are going to help provide another Prismaflex machine for the Paediatric Unit at the QMC in Nottingham.
The Musical Director is Rotarian Greg Maskalick from Church Wilne and the choir really excelled.
President Ivan Manning was present and our MC, Rotarian Peter Sherlock, was on great form as usual!

Friday 18 March 2011 - Rotary Club of Dronfield Charter

The Rotary Club of Dronfield held their Charter celebration, my fourth of the week, at Hallowes Golf Club, Dronfield.
This was a lively occasion with President Eric Beach in the chair and as it was Red Nose Day a large contingent of the Dronfield Inner Wheel together with President Liz Swift sang a comic song, all relating members of the Rotary club. Well done ladies, you were brilliant!
Sam Wain, a local schoolboy played keyboard thoughout the meal and he is a superb talent.
The speech by John Bell about Pathways in Chesterfield, a local centre for the homeless or anyone needing help, was very moving.
Rinato Sugihara, a Japanese Ambassadorial Scholar from Osaka, District 2640 told us that she has lost friends in the recent disasters and appreciated the help and understanding of people here.

Thursday 17 March 2011 - Meeting re Rotary Showcase Day

On Saturday 11 June there will be a large event in the Market Square in Nottingham organised by a group of clubs.
More details of this day long extravaganza will be given later, suffice it to say that this will be the biggest event of its kind in our District.
The model which is being developed and the equipment being used will be available to use in othe parts of the District such as Derby, Chesterfield, Newark, Burton uopn Trent, Mansfield etc.

A great deal of work has already been one by those involved and we are very lucky to be able to use this prestigious venue on a Saturday in June.

Wednesday 16 March 2011, Rotary Club of Carlton Charter

President Paul Hicking presided over the clubs Charter celebration at the Richard Herrod Centre.
Andrew Parker on the left of the group photograph gave a very amusing talk and a couple of George Formby numbers on his ukelele.
I was lost for words when the club gave a generous donation to the India housing project followed by Colin Gell presenting me with another cheque to bring his personal fundraising to the amazing total of £9,600.

Tuesday 15 March 2011 - Rotary Club of Kirkby in Ashfield Charter

The two Joint Presidents of the Rotary Club of Kirkby in Ashfield held an excellent Charter celebration at The Hostess in Sookholme.
John McEwen and Eric Thompson truly are a double act with lots of entertaining banter.
The main entertainment were the young ladies known as the Ashfield Singers.
There was also a very funny interlude from Ron Walker and David Turner who did a sketch portraying two old Rotarians looking back at the Rotary Club of Kirkby in Ashfield as it was in 2011 whilst waiting to see Doctor Karl White.

Tuesday 15 March 2011 - Sherwood Sunrisers - two new members!

After a late night at Matlock Charter it was up at 6.00am to go to my own club, Sherwood Sunrisers.
All of our meetings are lively and well attended, even business meetings!

I was delighted to be present to see President Kim Armstrong induct two new members.
Steve Moore has been an Honorary Member since he returned from the GSE trip to Taiwan. Following time rejuvenating the Nottingham Rotaract Club Steve decided that it is time to move on and become a Rotarian.

Heidi Pawlus was referred to us by my fellow District Governor Les Fay when she moved into our area. I suggested to Heidi that she should look at a few clubs starting with Sherwood Sunrisers. She came once, has not missed since and comes to all of our social events too!
Welcome Steve and Heidi!

At last, a little behind schedule, the purple crocuses are appearing in the hospital grounds!

Monday 14 March 2011 - Rotary Club of Matlock Charter

The Rotary Club of Matlock amd President Bill Darley and his wife Inner Wheel Chairman Maggie held an entertaining Charter celebration at the New Bath Hotel in Matlock.

The speaker was Chris Thompson, a local scriptwriter and playwright who works on The Archers and Emmerdale. It was a real insight into part of the entertainment industry that we rarely hear about.

Friday 11 March 2011 - Rotary Club of Burton upon Trent 75th Charter celebration

The Rotary Club of Burton upon Trent celebrated it's 75th birthday in style in the splendid setting of Burton Town Hall.

President Jack Sheldon and his members put on a superb evening with good food, good company and good entertainment.
Past RIBI President Ian Thomson was present and a great evening was made even better when Jack presented me with the biggest, most beautiful flower arrangement of the year so far.
Trust Jack and Burton to have the biggest they can find!

Thursday 10 March 2011 - Foundation Link Evening

The annual Foundation Link Evening was held at the Derbyshire Hotel and it was a lively occasion as usual.
Speakers were our 5 Ambassadorial scholars, the returning Group Study Exchange team from Chennai, a team member who went to the USA last year and Katja Karpinnen who is a Peace & Conflict resolution Scholar from Bradford University.
Colin Slater interviewed the scholars in his own inimitable manner again. Sam Evans, a former Ambassadorial scholar brought up to date with his life since completing the scholarship.
The event was organised by Peter Moralee at Terry's request as he tells me that he has too much to do as District Foundation Chairman and District Governor's Dogsbody!

Wednesday 9 March 2011 - District Council meeting

This evening we had an excellent District Council meeting at Mansfield. It was a positive, well attended meeting and Past District Governor David Curtis was elected our Council on Legislation representative again.
An informative talk was given by the incoming District Diversity officer, Phil Lewis from Retford who is preparing a policy for next year.

Tuesday 8 March 2011 - Rotary Club of Newark Castle Charter celebration

President David Carrott asked me to present Paul Harris Fellowships to three recipients at their Charter celebration.

Graham McFarland, David Strange and John Lewington are well deserved recipients of this special award.

Mansfield Rotary Club Children of Courage Awards - Tuesday 8 March 2011

It was another emotional occasion at the Rotary Club of Mansfield's 20th Children of Courage Awards at the Civic Centre.

Stewart Rickersey once again organised and introduced the 10 award winners, all incredible young people.

President Kelvin Bowman also welcomed Inner Wheel District 22 Chairman Elaine Harrison.
It was an emotional Kelvin who just managed to finish his speech. Words cannot describe the courage of these young people and the support that they receive from their parents, carers and teachers.

Monday 7 March 2011 - visit to Drone Valley

President Patricia Quinn and her superb club members hosted Terry and I at this, the last of my 58 club visits.

I was presented with a cheque for the housing project and it was a most enjoyable evening with a very sociable group of people.

Monday 7 March - John Port School, Etwall Interact Club

Etwall & Hilton Rotary Club has worked hard to set up a new Interact Club at the John Port School in Etwall.

President Barry Snaith is seen here with the Interim Interact President signing the documents.

Keith Rushby has put a great deal of time and effort into forming this club and there are already 38 members.

Sunday 6 March - Hucknall Inner Wheel Charter

Hucknall Inner Wheel under President Barbara Darlison held a superb Charter celebration at the Sherwood Forest Leisure Centre. A great deal of work had been done and the individual place settings were magnificent as you can see.

The cake was something else - just look at it! Certainly a prize winner!

I was delighted to meet Elaine Harrison and Pam McConnell again too.
I gave a presentation on our work in India and so pleased when Barbara presented me with a cheque to pay for a house in the project.

Saturday 5 March - Rotary Club of Retford Lancashire Evening

Terry and I don't often go to events where we can just chill out and enjoy ourselves but this is what happened at Retford's Lancashire Evening.




As President Phil Lewis is a genuine Lancashire lad the club jointly held a Lancashire Evening with their Inner Wheel club.
There was an abundance of Hotpot, both with and without Black Pudding, Eccles Cakes, Manchester Tart and Lancashire Cheese.
We had a difficult quiz on Lancashire won by yours truly!
Here is President Phil Lewis interviewing the President of Retford Inner Wheel - his wife Pamela.

We had odes and monologues including Albert and the Lion and a selection of Lancashire music.

This was a lovely enjoyable evening. Well done Retford!



What did I do - helped with the washing up!

Friday 4 March 2011 - Rotary Club of Long Eaton Charter

The Novotel was the venue for the Charter celebration of the Rotary Club of Long Eaton. The Novotel has been extremely supportive of Rotary this year, providing all meeting rooms free of charge.
President Martin and his wife were excellent hosts at a very enjoyable evening.

I was delighted to present a Paul Harris Fellowship to Doctor Alec Persey who has been a Rotarian for many years. Alec has a wicked sense of humour but even he was lost for words on this occasion!

I was also able to thank Tony and Domini Gregory for their tremendous help and support of the Ambassadorial Scholars which they readily take into their family. They treat them so well that I asked if I can be adopted by them next year!

Yuko Homma from Japan was with Tony and looked beautiful, confident and happy.

We were entertained by a section from Cantata with songs from the shows and songs that we all know. They will be at the Conference in Southport in 2012.

Wednesday 2 March 2011 - Visit to Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre

Today was emotional, disturbing yet inspirational. I visited the Beth Shalom Holocaust Memorial Centre at Laxton and believe that everyone should see this excellent museum and teaching centre which is in a beautiful setting with extensive gardens.
The exhibits and the way the story unfolds as you go round the centre is very moving and it is well worth spending some time in the superb bookshop and restaurant afterwards.
A small group of us were very privileged to have Rtn Bob Norton as our personal guide. Bob is a Holocaust survivor and it is very moving to hear his story and see his actual cases which held his belongings. I am proud to know Bob and his wife Gerry, their life story is an example to us all.